mouvei
by darkestraven13
Summary: this is the story of a girl with the future of the world in her hand.


Mouvei

Book one: The left hand tells you what you start with

Chapter 1: working with what you have

A particle drifted through the universe, it was not the first particle that had passed this way and it would not be the last, but in one form or another this particle had always been. Other particles came near it, some were similar, some where different, some joined and stayed while others fell away, some where so different that had it not been for this collective, this molecule, they would have never joined with this one. This was the way it was and always would be in this section of what was called the universe.

The particle entered the atmosphere of a planet. It had no idea what the planets name was nor would it ever care, it was just another mass of particles that other masses of particles called a planet, somewhere in the vast cosmos. It drifted through the sky and through clouds, where it release from those it had travelled with. It bonded with other particles in the cloud and was released to fall through the sky in a drop of rain. It fell past bird that was trying to escape the coming sprinkle, worm in its mouth for her chick. It sped past tall trees with the bright green leaves of spring. It finally dropped into a lake, right after a stone skipped across the spot on the water where the particle now swam.

The stone had been skipped by a young woman, and this pond was in a field near her home. The stone had danced three quarters of the way across the clear pond before it sank, and it had gone in the exact path that she had wanted, having sunk immediately after it was hit by a glob of spit the young woman had launched from her mouth. She was in her late teenage years, in some cities and times she would be almost past marrying age but not to the end of her breeding days. In Chiltian, the country that she lived in, no one gave much though to what age two people were when they married. Locally they didn't really care about the couples race, religion, or sex. It is true that you could not marry someone who was younger than her, and a father catching his daughter doing what could bring babies into this world was more likely than not to skin the poor boy she was with, but that was another tale. She was not the prettiest girl in the world, she was very tall and broad of shoulder, nothing about her was petite and she was, as the nobles said, coarse, both in language and manner. She had raven black hair pulled back in a pony tail, eyes the colour of the hickory tree's bark, which stood out against her pale skin. None of this concerned Anwen, she had bigger targets for her stones.

With each toss of the stone she visualized a specific face on the surface of the water just under where her stone was about to hit. Once again Anle, her mother, had refused to let her try out for the National Guardians. The Guardians had been warned of Anwen and knew her face, they would insist that she have a parent present for the audition so running away again was not an option. Anwen's mother had insisted, again, that Anwen would be going to the textile mills as soon as she finished her schooling, a thought made Anwen shutter. She had no interest in living the life her mother sought for her, a life that Anwen's mother, Anle, was fortunate enough to have never lived; a life spent at a loom making rugs and blankets or whatever else was the market trend until she had saved up enough to retire or had keeled over. Anwen had a love of live and experience that would not be satisfied with the prospect of a life of the loom until marriage followed by birthing the next generation of men for the cotton fields and women for the loom, to be followed by death. She wanted adventure, she wanted to see the world, she wanted to use the skill that her mother made her swear she would never reveal. She wanted to be a Guardian, and after that, who knows, maybe a privateer in the merchant marines. Her father's brother, Mikael had been a sailor, he had travelled the world and used to come visit the family years ago bringing tales of the exotic and strange, tales of adventure and laughter, but this was before Anwen's father passed away. He had shown her his sword and how to hold it, but she had only seen him once after her father died. Her mother insisted that every woman's life goal should be to find a noble to marry and live as he desired. Anwen would rather be paid by nobles for saving their lives or rescuing their heirs the way she had heard one does if they are a Guardian. There were monsters out there than needed slaying, and if the International Coin Council or some wealthy merchant was willing to pay for her taking care of their business then that was the life she needed. Anwen felt a drop of rain hit her in the forehead, and turned from her pond, heading home for another round of argument.

The house that Anwen and Anle, who had insisted that Anwen stop calling her mother on Anwen's thirteenth birthday, shared was one story with a root cellar. Anwen's room was on one end next to a guest room, Anle's room was next to the kitchen/dining room and those three rooms made one half of the house. When Anwen arrived at the house she found that Anle was not there, just a note that said she had gone to the market, and she might go to the mountain after that. "Good," said Anwen to no one in particular. Anle was pursuing a mountain man that had almost less respect for her than she had for herself and if she went to the mountain she was more likely than not staying up there for the night. This gave Anwen a chance to be by herself and to do exactly what she was banned from doing, magic.

Anwen went to her room, shutting the door behind her. She opened it again tossing her mothers cat, Princess, out of her room saying "no spying," to the cat, who had the habit of watching Anwen whenever she wanted privacy. She sat on the floor of her bedroom and closed her eyes, thinking only of a flame. A green flame, covering her hand. She opened her eyes and saw a tiny spark appear in her hand that grew until her whole hand was bathed in a green flame. The flame with did not burn her in any way, it actually felt soothing. She felt heat from the flame, but it was the heat you feel when you step outside from complete darkness, into a bright sunny day. She could feel the power from the fire flowing from deep under her, through her bottom and into her back, up through her shoulder and arm, erupting from her palm. At that moment she could feel life everywhere around her, from the insects crawling and flying to the plants and trees to the animals that timidly crept near the house, she could feel it all and savoured the pulse and flow that was nature.

She had other abilities too, she always knew which way was north and had a special affinity for plants and animals, she could take food or drinks that had gone off and just by thinking about them make them fit for eating or drinking, she knew when a storm was coming a day before it arrived and could tell when there would be no rain for weeks. There was one time when she was in the forest a rabid dog came after her and she scared it away by making light burst in front of its eyes. Anle had seen her do that one and after they ran back home she beat Anwen's butt and made her swear she would never do that or anything else that was weird again. Anwen felt that since magic came to her naturally it did not truly qualify as weird and she had no problem practising it any time her mother was not home. She spent a few hours trying to see if there was anything else she could do like flying or making furniture move, but nothing happened. Anwen stood up and opened the door to her room, allowing the cat to come running back in, resuming her post curled up in the sunny spot on Anwen's bed, Princess stared at her as if she knew Anwen had been up to something that mother would disapprove of.

Anwen strolled out into the living room and then into her mom's bedroom, opening a dresser drawer that was never used. It held items that did not belong to her mother, but to Anwen's father. Anwen's mother had not let her go to the funeral, insisting that it was no place for a young lady but had told Anwen what had happened. Anwen's father had been the driver of a stage coach until highway men caught him one night, they robbed and killed him and the merchant he was transporting before setting the stage coach on fire and rolling it off of a bridge. The highway men were never caught and the investigation was closed within a month of his death.

Anwen picked up her fathers golden wedding ring, feeling the small cuts in the gold from the years he spent working to build their home. She felt the one pair of grey wool socks that were left in the drawer. The man had owned three pairs of socks, one pair he had died in and were burned off of his body. One pair he was buried in and the third pair was now being held in his youngest daughter's hands. She picked up the hammer that he had kept in the drawer as a reminder of his father who had been a miner. Anwen sat the hammer back down a little harder than she had intended, its weight being more than she was comfortable with, and she pushed the drawer closed again while wishing she could remember what her father looked like, not noticing that the hammer had bounced the false bottom of the drawer open and then closed again for a moment.

Anwen made herself a dinner from slices of dried sausage that was made with much garlic and pepper they had purchased at market. She also sliced off some bread and a soft white cheese before pouring a cup of sweet summer wine from the wine skin. Anwen then lit a few candles and sat near them with a book that she had bought in town, reading the night away and passing gas, which always came along with stomach cramps as the price for eating cheese. Anwen and Anle were fortunate that Anwen's father had a substantial savings that they could live on for a few more years before Anwen would need to start working. The book was on history, a subject that Anle loathed to the point where she would rarely allow a book on the subject to be brought into the house, and if she found such a book they would quickly be tossed into the hearth fire.

This story was a detailed manuscript dealing with the events of a neighbouring country known as Cerren Berra, or the land of the Fallen Dragon, in the old tongue. It was the story of the settlers of Cerren Berra who had braved icy waters and dangerous sea serpents in search of a fabled land where they could find fortune far from the petty squabbles of the noble houses. Half of the founding houses were of Noble bloodlines that had fallen out of favour with the leaders of their families, they were the black sheep, while the other half were those that had not inherited wealth but had made their empires through skill and luck. They were each visited by a set of three wizards who claimed that they could lead them across the seas to a new land if they were to sacrifice everything for the opportunity. The wizards were admitted that they had recently been kicked out of the wizards guild for defying the will of the king, saying the king was a pompous ass who thought of wizards as his own personal genii. The wizards convinced every one of these men and women to join what others referred to as a fools errand or a madman's downfall. The Founders did as the wizards commanded, they sold all their old holdings to fund the voyage as well as put aside all old grievances with anyone else who came along. There had been a total of thirteen families who gave up all that they had, giving their fortunes to the wizards who guided them to their destiny, only asking the Founders not to stand against the study and non abusive practice of magic, and to allow one son or daughter from the Founder's family to be taught the magic of the wizards. An agreement was reached and the Founders headed out, being lead by the wizards, taking with them skilled artisans, farmers, merchants, and soldiers who were willing to renounce their old loyalties in favour of what fortune they could hold in their hands.

After seven months, seven days, seven hours and seventeen sickening minutes at sea, they saw the shore. They landed and once again did everything the wizards told them to do. First they stripped their ships of everything including the wood the ships were made from, making it impossible to sail back. They then began the long journey of five hundred and fifty six miles north west of the landing spot, hauling all they had including the materials the ships were made from with them, before they founded the capitol of Cerren Berra, a city named Neul Chianogos, the name composed of the first letters of the last names of each of the Founding families, in the order that the wizard had visited them. By the time they had reached this site the wizards who led them, had left them, leaving behind only two messages, what they would name their city and a reminder of what they had agreed to regarding magic. Within one year one child from each of the Founding families had disappeared, a note left on the child's bed reminding the parents of their oath to the wizards.

Over time the descendants of Founding families broke from what their ancestors agreed to and began fighting over land, splitting the land of Cerren Berra into several nations, and wiping out all but five of the original founding households, with the heir to the fifth having disappeared shortly before the book was to be printed. The author hoped that the fifth prince would be found alive and well soon. The book concluded simply by saying that the wizards that had led the Founders were never heard from again. Anwen blew out the candles and climbed into her bed, pulling a thin patchwork blanket that her grandmother had made over herself. She lay there in the darkness belching the names of various people she knew. She had the nightmare again, the same nightmare that she had once a week for as long as she could remember. She dreamed that she was laying in bed, pretending to sleep, waiting for her daddy to come home. There was a loud pounding on the front door to the house, mother opened the door letting a man in and talked to him in hushed tones, Anwen crept from her bed and listened at the door and she could just barely hear the end of the conversation. The man said _They got him, Anle, but they don't __know anything about her or they'd have been here before me. You must not mention anything before __she's old enough, when its time..._

_Time? There will never be a time for that, it ends here and now, now get out of my home Gerald, and don't ever come back!_

There was more conversation but Anwen couldn't understand it. The front door slammed shut and all faded to dark. Anwen woke from the dream sweating and gasping for air, it felt more real tonight than ever before, like she could have opened the door and seen the man, but she did not. She fell back to sleep a few moments later and slept peacefully for the rest of the evening.

Chapter 2: The End of Anwen

Anwen awoke the next morning to the chatter of birds outside her window in the peach tree. Anwen had learned quite a bit about peach trees and nature from a village herbalist who gave Anwen an apple every time she came to town. This tree grew about ten foot high and produced a very sweet juicy fruit that was a soft orange pink colour with a hard seed in the middle. She had learned that if you knew how, you could process the seeds into a deadly poison. Anwen recognized the bird sounds as a blue jay and a robin arguing over the fruit that was not quite ripe yet. Anwen went outside and fetched some eggs from the coop and had her hand pecked for her effort, responding to the chicken with an obscene gesture and telling it she would delight in frying and eating its babies. After frying two eggs to the point where the whites were solid but the yellows were still drinkable. She warmed a piece of stag sausage and bread near the fire place before tucking in. She washed her meal down with a cup of water from the nearby stream, which had earned her and Anle the reputation as fools. Everyone said that only a fool would drink from there but Anwen and Anle did it all the time without getting sick, mostly due to Anwen's effort.

After breakfast Anwen grabbed two empty buckets and a change of clothes and walked down to the stream singing a bawdy song about fornication with publicly displayed wildlife. She filled up the buckets and then stripped down to take a bath in the fresh stream. She loved the feel of the cold clear spring water racing across her skin, and relished any moment that she could play in the water. After an hour she felt she should be getting home, Anle was sure to be home soon and if Anwen didn't have the water waiting there would be severe consequences. She relived herself in a nearby bush before she dried off and dressed in a dark green dress that blended well with the forest before picking up the buckets of water to carry back to the house. When she neared the house she saw several men standing around outside the house, men that were not dressed like they were from around here, men who carried weapons!

The one closest to the door pounded on it loud enough to echo through the valley. Anwen felt it better to wait till they went away rather than walking up to armed men, Anle had always warned her about the dangers of strange men, especially those carrying weapons as this group was. After a few minutes the lead fellow said something to two of his people and they started walking around to the back of the house, a third man went to the coop while the other two men waited with their leader. Suddenly he raised his foot and kicked the door in before the three ran into the house. Anwen could hear shouting and the sound of furniture being smashed, Anwen decided that she wasn't going inside any time soon and dropped the buckets of water before running through the woods next to the road which would take her into town. She stayed in the woods, feeling safe in the blossoming spring green, feeling like the forest was one with her and that anything that threatened her would have to deal with nature herself. As she followed the gravel road she saw in two separate spots along the road men who were dressed similarly to those ransacking her house, these ones also carried weapons, and Anwen felt the need to avoid them, the sound of her footsteps suddenly were muffled and dry twigs from last fall that she stepped on did not break, the forest itself masked her presence in ways that hunters would pray for. She finally arrived in town after a good five hour walk, finding herself climbing up a steep hill of rock that cut into her bare hands and feet, the hill crested behind the local tavern. She walked onto the dirt and stone of the alley behind the tavern and stopped dead in her tracks, seeing a face she had only seen before in her nightmares. He was a short and stout fellow, clearly of dwarven lineage with dark curly hair, there was a deep scar on his cheek running from just under his left eye almost to his chin. His eyes bulged when he saw her and he gasped, "Mer-uh, Anwen?" She tried to pretend she hadn't heard him and walk past him but the ruse would not work. "I know you don't know me, Anwen, but I knew your father. My name is-"

"Gerald?" Anwen asked, turning more pale with every moment.

"You recognize me!" he said.

"I'm sorry, this will sound quite strange, but I've seen your face in a nightmare I've had for many years, a nightmare that you came to inform my mother about my fathers death and something about an oath," she said.

"Perhaps we should go into the tavern and talk where less people can hear us, if you don't mind," he said, looking around.

"A place that you can accost me without witnesses? I don't think so. I'll be going now," she said, backing herself away and directly into the wall of the tavern.

"You can't go anywhere Anwen, the towns not safe, there's...men, looking for you," Gerald said.

"There are men at my house too, armed men, I was in the woods and I saw them kick in the door to the house, are they with you? What if my mother comes home with them there? The local guardians must help!" Anwen said, looking around, having said the last word louder than necessary.

"I know about the men but they are not with me. Please, come inside, we will talk, I swear on the noble thirteen that I won't hurt you," he said, kneeling before her with his hand over his heart.

She hesitated for a moment before walking into the tavern, a place she had never been. In Chiltian the law was that taverns were open and accessible by everyone, no matter a persons age, and it was expected of parents to keep those not mature enough out of the drink. Gerald guided Anwen to a room in the back that was empty except for its furniture. The room was well lit with two windows in two different walls but was dusty enough to suggest a lack of use.

Anwen sat down in a chair and waited. Gerald sat across from her and looked at his hands for a moment before speaking.

"This is a terrible place for what I must tell you, but the woman you've known as your mother was murdered last night not far from here. I arrived too late to save her, and I was afraid I would be too late for you too."

"MURDERED?" Anwen shouted as she jumped out of her chair. Her world was turning grey and the heat of her body flowed out of her.

"Yes. The men who were at your house were after you. They came upon your mother as she and her male companion were playing a game of cards at the Rose and Lion down the road," said Gerald.

"Why?" questioned Anwen.

"Because of who your father was. I know that you've been told that your father was just a stagecoach driver, and that he was murdered by highway men, but it ain't true. He was not originally from here, he was a General in the Royal Militia of Neul Chianogos when the monster Dhuknos and his army of the undead were defeated. I was there when your father severed the beasts head and carried it back to the Royal Court by its tentacles. They want you because you're the steward and the bearer of the stone!"

"The what and the who? This makes no sense, I'm just a nobody from nowhere!" she said with a sigh.

Gerald looked as if he might choke for a moment hearing her words, and then replied with "That's where you're wrong. Do you know anything about the Royal family of Cerren Berra?" the dwarf asked.

Anwen told Gerald what she had learned in her book. The bartender came into the room and asked them if they wanted anything, Anwen falling silent in her story as he entered. Gerald asked for an ale and told Anwen to order whatever she wanted, he'd pay. She ordered an herbal tea which earned a funny look from the Bartender. When the bartender left Anwen picked up where she had left off. Gerald said that what she read was a fair overview of history but lacked detail.

"The wizards the Founders followed called themselves the Raven Flock. They created a set of rules for the kingdom to be run by, including what to do if the whole royal family died off. The office of the Steward was created so that one person, who was protected by secrecy, could take charge if need be. The Steward would be known by a stone that he or she bore, the stone of selection. Its a magic rock that the Raven Flock created that would be able to sense if a person would be a good leader, it settled disputes when two children of noble blood both tried to claim leadership of their family lines and it would allow the steward to form a new ruling Royal line if the need ever arose," the bartender arrived with the drinks, causing Gerald to fall silent until the man left.

"It's also a key that keeps a gateway to a demonic realm closed. Dhuknos was given it by Chellias the Greedy," Gerald spat on the floor after saying the name "stole the stone from the Royal vault and sold it to Dhuknos. The idea of one of the Royals doing business with one of them squid heads, it was a bloody shame his older brother had a riding accident at such a young age and Chellias became head of his family unopposed, the stone would of sorted him out for sure. Anyway ol' Dhuknos used the stone to focus his powers to opening a gateway to the demon realm, he wanted to take over the world using an army of demons but he got what he deserved. The only demon to come through the gate shoved its arm down the squid heads throat, grabbed Dhuknos' soul and dragged it back to the demon realm. Without his soul Dhuknos could no longer control his own magic or the gate, causing the gate to close in on itself. Dhuknos' body was still alive and firing off lightning till your daddy lopped his head off," Gerald said with a smile. He took a long draw of his ale before starting to talk again.

"Unfortunately the Royals started fighting amongst themselves after that and your father felt the only safe place for his wife and their unborn child would be far away, so he took the stone and hired a ship that landed not far from here, I came with on that voyage, you were born at sea," he said with a grin, Anwen sat and listened with rapt attention. "After you were born your Father and I took a vow to keep you safe and secure until your sixteenth birthday, and then to take you back to Neul Chianogos so the Royal line could be reborn. Your mother, your real mother, not Anle, caught fever on the ship a few days after giving birth to you, passing away one day before we arrived in the port. Anle was a maid that had overheard your father's plans and was given the choice of falling out of a window mysteriously or coming along, she agreed to raise you as her own. Your dad came up with fake names for you, him self, and the maid, the name you've been using all these years, Anwen Du Aisole, was a little joke that your dad came up with, they knew that eventually someone would figure out where the stone was and come after you. Now, I'd recommend against using either your real name or your fake name till we get you to Neul Chianogos, we'll have to come up with something else till we get there but your name would translate in the code of the royals as No One of No Where, Your fathers name, Outtac Du Aisole means Giant Tree of No Where, and Anle, translates as Gnat-her real name was Berryl. Your real name is Mera du Struen, your dads was Franc Du Struen and your birth mother was Morgae Du Allaice, she was a princess from Neustrasia. The only other persons outside of your parents, me, and Anle to know about the vow was the Captain of the ship and his first mate. The first mate went missing one year before your father died and the Captain went missing one year ago. There's a plot to make sure the royal line is never reborn, and I need to find the stone and make sure that you and it get to Neul Chianogos safely, that's why Franc was killed, and that's why Anle died, and why men are after you," said Gerald.

Anwen, or Mera, or whoever she would be sat in stunned silence for twenty minutes, her tea getting cold. Finally she looked at Gerald "This is going to take some time to fully accept, but I feel in my heart of hearts that what you have told me is true. I don't know anything about the stone but I will help in any way I can. I feel cold for asking this with so much death around me but where am I going to sleep tonight? Home...Anle's house...isn't safe..." she said. She felt rather than thought that for once she would actually miss Anle's nearly non stop chatter and fussing over nothing.

"I will get you a room here for the night, but I need you to promise you won't go out by yourself or go anywhere near the windows in your room. They might not know what you look like but these men that are after you are some of the most dangerous around, and they wouldn't hesitate to burn down the whole city if it meant they'd get you in the blaze. I have a few people who I've hired to assist me, one's a Ranger and the other is a Priest. I trust them but they don't know and don't need to know anything about what's going on, they just know that I'm looking for an object and that you're under our protection. I'll introduce you to them as soon as they are back from scouting, at least one will be with you at all times. Oh, and one more thing about names, no one around here save you knows me as Gerald, the name I'm using is James Noblesman. I'll need you to come up with a name for yourself by the time I introduce them, " Gerald stood up and left the room, leaving the door open to keep an eye on his charge, he called for the bartender and told him that they would need another room for the night and to please change the bedding in the room with the two beds. The bartender, a very chatty and fussy man named Mr. Jasmine began complaining in a high voice about Gerald and his people taking up all the available rooms. Gerald asked if Mr. Jasmine would prefer the complete lack of business that he was used to since the other inn had lower rates and was known for having much better service. Mr Jasmine quickly changed his tune saying he'd be pleased to have another associate of Master Noblesman as a guest and that he'd ready her room immediately, which meant going into his kitchen and yelling at full volume for one of the serving girls to run upstairs and take the rubbish out of room four before making the bed.

Anwen had a dinner of broth and bread, Gerald had offered to buy her anything she wanted to eat, but light broth and bread was all that she felt she could handle at this time. People began drifting in and out of the Inn for dinner or a drink, a bard started playing guitar for any who would listen. She was about to get up and go up to her room when two people entered the tavern, coming straight to Gerald. One of them was a woman with short sandy blonde hair, icy blue eyes, she was of average height, had a farmers tan and carried a longbow. She had a blue tattoo high on her left cheek next to her ear, it was an animal paw, possibly a bear-it was hard to tell at this distance. She wore leather armour in shades of brown, knee high leather boots and a forest green cloak, she looked tired and did not smile. The other individual looked to all the world as the tallest street urchin ever. He wore a ripped and frayed yellow tunic and dirty brown leather pants with a large belt buckle that looked like the sun God Reius. He was tall and skinny with scruffy blonde hair and an equally scruffy beard. He had a decent looking if heavily worn pair of boots. He had a mace dangling from a loop on his belt and a slow grin. Gerald talked with them for a few minutes before walking to the back room where Anwen was sitting. She assumed these were Gerald's two associates and quickly thought of a name for herself, settling on the first thing to come to mind. Gerald introduced them as Fiona McCoul and Rothgar Snakerock, she shook their hands and introduced herself as Dawn Stormseerer. He then informed Rothgar that he would be spending the night in room four so Fiona could watch Dawn for the night. Rothgar's response was to smile and nod and say "as long as you're still footing the bill then whatever floats your boat man," while lazily scratching behind one ear.

Fiona and Rothgar ordered dinner and ate quickly. Rothgar occasionally engaging in small talk with Gerald and Dawn, mostly about the price of vegetables and the weather. Fiona seemed uninterested in conversation outside of what was needed for her the mission. She asked for a general overview of tomorrows activities and pulled out an area map. It was decided that they would be going to Dawns home to look for an object that Gerald only described as a black stone, the size of your palm. Rothgar and Fiona were both instructed that guarding Dawns life was their most important duty from now until further notice. Gerald then went upstairs and advised the others to be turning in soon, as they would all be up and at it pretty early. Rothgar asked a serving girl to dance, spending an hour slowly dancing and chatting with her. Fiona looked at Dawn "I don't want to be rude but I'd like to go to bed soon, and I'm not leaving you down here with the dancing priest for a guard," said the ranger.

"Okay, I'm ready for bed myself. Lead the way," Dawn said as she stood. Fiona stood and headed upstairs with Dawn in tow, the room they entered could best be described as spartan. There were two bed frames with mattresses that had been lightly stuffed with straw. Each of the beds had a single pillow and a thin yet heavily stained blanket. There was one window on the wall between the two beds, directly across from the door, with one small table resting directly below the window, a single candle was glowing from the top of the table. There was no other furniture to speak of, there was what appeared to be a mouse hole in the base of the wall between this room and the one next door on both sides of the room. Fiona placed her backpack on the bed before pulling back the thin blanket and climbing under the sheets fully dressed. She looked to Dawn "normally I don't wear anything to bed, but anything that falls to the floor or is left there gets taken by whatever lives in the holes, and it ain't no mouse or rat. Also, I recommend leaving the candle on, it apparently doesn't like light," she said before she rolled over and fell asleep fairly quickly. Dawn climbed into her bed and noticed that it smelled of some spicy and exotic oil, as well as the sweat and filth of countless unwashed people and their bodily fluids. She tried to ignore the scent and rolled over to go to sleep, succeeding after an hour. No distinct dreams arose in Dawns mind, only the murky fumblings of stress and fear were surfacing and floating through the sea of her subconscious.

Chapter 3: The first day of the rest of her life.

Daylight came too early that next morning; shortly after the roosters cry of challenge to all others Fiona was answering a knock at the bedroom door, a short, curved, fang-like blade in her hand at the ready. She opened it to find Gerald standing outside it with Rothgar, the latter looking like he had yet to sleep or perform any function of hygiene normally associated with the average human older than a teenager. Fiona looked to Dawn and said "any time you answer a door, be ready for hostility, many assassins strike where you feel the most comfortable, front doors and home towns are especially viable targets," Rothgar then brought a blade up behind Fiona and placed it across her throat, grabbing her around the waist while Gerald said "And don't even trust those you know if you know you're a target," Fiona's response was to first roll her eyes, elbow Rothgar just below the ribs while raising her heel quickly into his crotch, grabbing his wrist and throwing him onto her bed and disarming him simultaneously. Rothgar smiled at her and said "See, I told you you'd be getting me into your bed sooner or later," Fiona smiled and then threw Rothgar's knife, burying the blade into the mattress, less than two inches from the spot where her heel had connected with his body a few moments earlier. "All right, kids, lessons over. Lets get downstairs for breakfast, today's going to be busy and we may all be seeing some real action fairly soon," Gerald said.

They all headed downstairs to a waiting tray of bread from several days ago, cheese that had been scraped of any mould as well as dry cured meat that was of questionable origin. Rothgar said a blessing over the food, and Dawn saw a faint, colourless ripple in the air and knew the food was purified in a similar manner to what she had done for years right in front of Anle without her knowing. They left the Inn right after breakfast, Fiona leading the group and Rothgar guarding the rear each on their own horses while Dawn clung to Gerald's back in the middle of the pack. In a few minutes they were at the remains of the house Dawn grew up in. The walls had been broken through and support beams in two thirds of the building had fallen causing the roof to collapse in on all but Anle's room. A fire had been set in the root cellar but hadn't spread far beyond the stones set in the doorway leading to the rest of the house.

"Oh, my Gods..." was the only thing that came from Dawns lips at the sight of all she had having been reduced to rubble.

"It's a mess, but I doubt they found what they were looking for. Rothgar, time for you to use that scroll of yours," said Gerald.

"I don't need the scroll man, I can feel it all. This place is saturated with energies. There's a sort of splash of energy, very nature based, feels like what I get off of Druids, Rangers, Satyrs and Wood Nymphs in there, especially in one of the collapsed areas. There's also some magic in the cellar, I think some kind of something was triggered, like they tried to do a detect right in the range of a ward and it set off a magical fire trap in there. There's also something small, something that's been sleeping for years in the non collapsed part, I think that's it, but you're the boss," said Rothgar

"Are there any more of those ward things?" asked Gerald.

"Can't tell, whatever set that one was something you'd never see until it's triggered. Probably not safe to try any magic in there unless you were there before the ward was, they tend to protect their predecessors. I don't want to try anything closer than the hundred feet we currently are, even if you paid me double," said Rothgar.

"That's not happening, Rothgar. Physical search only, remember, dark stone thing, fist sized, good chance it'll feel kinda strong – questioning even, especially if there's anything in your life that you're hiding," said Gerald.

"So it's what - magic? Is it going talk or something?" asked Fiona.

"Not talk, but if you're touching it you'll know it, trust me," replied Gerald.

"All right, but if this rock bites me or anything I'm charging extra. I'm not losing my bow fingers over some stupid family heirloom," Fiona said.

"You mercenaries, always about the money. Why couldn't I get a pair of loyal soldiers, if it bites, which it won't, I'll pay you extra. I'll laugh my arse off, but I'll pay extra. And before you ask Rothgar, yes, the same applies to you, laughter and all," said Gerald.

They started searching the rubble and spent several hours. Dawn mainly picked through her own stuff, taking out the clothes that could be salvaged, which was very little, most of what she had had been ripped to shreds. Fiona found a leather backpack that had belonged to Dawn's father and might have kept it for herself if Dawn hadn't spoken up. Dawn then neatly folded her clothes, tucking them in to the bottom of the pack with plenty of room to spare. She had been able to find maybe three changes of clothes, nothing fancy but slightly better than the average street urchin. Dawn found some bread, cheese, and dried fruit that she put in her pack as well. Rothgar found the bodies of most of the men who had broken into the house the day before in the root cellar burned to a nearly unrecognisable status. When they searched Anle's room they found her cat, Princess hiding under the collapsed bed. Princess hissed at Gerald and ran for the woods, disappearing in the undergrowth, never to be seen by human eyes again. They found the dresser that belonged to Dawn's father, laying on its side, buried under rubble but apparently otherwise untouched. Rothgar reached to open a drawer and then immediately pulled his hand back, looking at Gerald "That's hot with magic, I'd bet Fiona's pants and underclothes that what you're looking for is in there," said Rothgar.

"None of my clothes are up for you to bet with you filthy bumpkin," said Fiona.

"Will you two hush?" replied Gerald as he looked at the drawer. "I don't see any traps, but who knows what's inside?"

"A pair of socks, a hammer, a wedding ring, and Anle's clothes that she doesn't wear any more," said Dawn, a vacant look on her face.

"How do you know?" asked Rothgar.

"Because I had it open less than two days ago," she said, staring at her feet. She reached down and pulled the drawer open. Gerald, Fiona, and Rothgar all dove for cover as she was opening the drawer but there were no explosions, no flying swords, just a slight wood rubbing lightly on wood as it opened. There was a crack in the wood along the bottom of the drawer with a glint of something in the darkness. Dawn reached in and pulled at the crack, the false bottom came right off, and sitting in the drawer was indeed a black rock that looked to be made of volcanic glass, it was roughly the size and shape of a heart, not the romantic nonsense image that had more to do with female human genitalia but a biological heart, the size of a hand and it had four notches along each of the two longer edges, another notch at each end, the notches along the longer edges were just about the right width for fingers where the notches on each end were wide enough for a thumb. Dawn's mind could see it being held between the palms of two people simultaneously. There was also a hundred gold coins and a letter, folded that had the words _To Mera_ written on one side. Dawn picked the letter up and opened it, it said:

_My Dear Daughter;_

_ If you are reading this then I have not survived to see you to fulfil your destiny, which I regret. There is one man and one man alone that you can trust to protect your life, his name is Gerald, and I suspect that if you are reading this than he is probably with you. Trust him, he shall do you no harm. The stone that should be near this letter is for you and you alone to bear. Once you take hold of it let no one hold it for only in your blood runs the strength to resist the corruption that lives within it, to stay pure. It can be used for great goodness, or powerful evil, I pray that you will use it to aid in the birth to Order and a death to the evil that our world is being gripped by, rather than pushing it further into drowning in the Seas of Chaos. I pray for your safe passage, know that I love you and have done all that is in my power to aide you. _

_Farewell_

_Franc_

Dawn read the letter two more times before dropping it on the ground and walking back to the horse she rode in on. Gerald picked up the gold coins and put them into a small leather bag that he then placed into Dawn's bag. Gerald then pulled a white silk cloth out of his pocket and placed it over the stone before picking it up. The cloth was wrinkled in a way that looked like it had been wrapped on this stone before, falling into its shape and grooves with a natural fit. Gerald then carried the stone to Dawn saying "I'm sorry for your loss but you have to carry it."

"Why me? You were the one all hot and bothered for getting the rock in the first place," she said.

"For no better reason than who you were fathered by. I don't want to put pressure on you but you are the most important person right now. It sucks but if you don't do this duty you will be allowing the world to be enslaved by demonic forces," he said.

"Seriously?" she asked.

"Well, maybe. I'm not absolutely certain, but the group that Dhuknos had mostly escaped and disappeared into the world, and I believe it's them what are trying to get you and that stone. I think they're the evil that destroyed the royal line and is eating away at the natural order. I have no proof but it makes sense to me at least," he said.

"And if I just give them the stone they'd leave me alone?" she asked.

"No, Dhuknos failed cause even with all the wizarding knowledge in his head he couldn't control the stone, control can only come from the stones bearer, someone of the bloodline, like you. You give them the stone and they'll grab you next. You'll be a living altar while they open up a portal to swallow the world into their evil paradise, and you'd be likely to be the appetizer for whatever became hungry once they no longer needed you. No, giving up ain't an option for survival girl. You want to give up just start digging a grave for yourself. You want to live, then get on that horse and lets ride to the port and head for Neul. Move forward, choose the new royalty and pray they can get an army together like what we used to have," Gerald said as he mounted his steed. Fiona and Rothgar were already mounted and waiting to get gone, Gerald offered Dawn a hand but she just looked up at him for a moment.

"I'm going to need lessons in how to survive. I've been a bit sheltered," Dawn said to Gerald.

"I know. The three of us will start training you today. It will be tough and we're not going to go easy on you. If you wake up and aren't sore tomorrow then we did something wrong. You know any weapons?" Gerald asked.

"I'm good at skipping stones and I can spit with deadly accuracy, if that counts," Dawn said.

"Right, a sling for you when we get to town. Any melee experience?" Gerald asked.

"Um, I usually carry a hickory walking stick that's very useful with the local boys," Dawn replied.

"Okay, a quarterstaff will be familiar to you. You want to learn any magic?" Gerald asked.

"Actually, I can do some of that..." Dawn said with hesitation.

"Really? That ain't nothing to be ashamed of," Gerald replied with surprise.

"The last time I used magic in front of anyone Anle...hurt me. I couldn't sit for a week," Dawn said with a mixture of embarrassment and fear.

"Well, speaking ill of the dead is just tacky, but that ain't right. Okay, back to town we go, you're walking, try to keep up," Gerald said as his horse began to trot off. Rothgar and Fiona each sped off and Dawn made sure her pack was secure on her back and then started running to keep up. She'd never run like this before and she wasn't in good shape to begin with. Her legs were hurting within the first mile, she was breathing hard and had a metallic taste in the back of her throat with every breath out but she was keeping Gerald's horse in sight. They reached to town before too long and as much as she wanted to Dawn refused to collapse. Her heart was racing for the next ten minutes and she was still breathing hard. She stumbled into the inn and asked for a glass of water but the innkeeper said Gerald told him not to give her any until an hour had passed. "your body needs to learn survival which can mean a lack of water. Trust me, wait an hour before drinking and when you do put some salt in it. You can sit if you want but if you do you'll need to run another mile before you go to bed tonight. I'm going to show you the various states of attention we used for the military," Gerald said. He then went through the same motions that he had for years as drill instructor of the Royal guard. Dawn quickly caught on to Attention, Parade Rest, At Ease, and Rest. He then had her doing sets of exercises to work her muscles from squatting to jumping butterflies, to push ups and sit ups. Rothgar was sitting and watching while smoking a pipe, Fiona had gone to the market to buy herbs.

By the time dinner arrived Dawn's body hurt, but in a good way. She sat down to eat and was presented with a bowl of finely ground herb and root porridge that smelled like what one would expect to scrape out of the bottom of a necromancers cauldron. There was also a plate of meat that had been finely minced but would occupy the mass of the legs of two squirrels at most with fat and salt mixed into the meat. There was also a glass of water sitting next to the plate and bowl, but no flatware.

"Sometimes you don't get the luxury of forks and spoons when your goal is just surviving so dig right in, dirty hands and all. The meat will help build muscles and that porridge will clean out any toxins in your system as well as heal you from the inside out. We'll be doing the same sort of training for the next three days and it's going to get harder. You'll be running up hills and climbing mountains before two months pass, Fiona and Rothgar will be showing you weapons starting the day after tomorrow. When you wake up tomorrow you might be hating what you're in, but remember, this training was designed by your dad, and it made the most successful army this world has ever seen," said Gerald before he went upstairs to bed. Rothgar was already in one corner of the inn, kissing and petting a serving girl, but not the one he was dancing with last night. Fiona came over to Dawn as she was eating and placed a sling on the table along with a bag of ten sling stones. Fiona said "early birthday present," before turning and heading upstairs. Dawn finished her dinner and took her sling and stones up to the room she shared with Fiona. Fiona was already asleep and Dawn heard herself snoring before her eyes closed. Before the sun rose on the next day they were up and at it again, Dawn's breakfast being two eggs straight out of the shell and the boiled mash of a orange root that tasted rather sweet. Today was like yesterday only Gerald's horse went just a little faster and the terrain felt rougher to Dawn. She ended up doing three times the squats and other exercises that she had done on the previous day, and her meals were more of the same, another of the orange sweet roots which Fiona and Rothgar felt the need to argue over what the proper name for it was. After lunch Dawn was handed a bag and a shovel before being told to fill it with sand and then carry it to a nearby tree. After she had Rothgar and Gerald tied off the end of the bag before hanging it from a tree, saying to her "this is your enemy until you bust it open. Start hitting."

Dawn threw a punch at the bag and felt the shock of force all the way to her shoulders. Gerald showed her the proper stance for a punch and corrected her technique before letting her hammer away at the bag. By sunset her knuckles were bleeding and she knew her dinner would be the same as last nights, only it was worse. Instead of the rather dry meat that she had last night she was served finely minced and very raw meat, mixed with salt and fat. The amount of meat was slightly more than yesterday but Rothgar served it to her with the words "Squirrel Tartare," and she knew by the look in his eyes and the malicious grin he wore that he was serious. Dawn fell asleep that night with the metallic tang of squirrel blood staining her lips. Training continued at this pace for several more days, Fiona presented Dawn with a hickory quarterstaff sized perfectly for her height and her hands as well as padded leather armour that fit like a glove. Gerald's method of teaching her use of the sling revolved around the idea of Dawn having to use said sling to hunt for her own meat from now on. After a few complaints from Mr. Jasmine about Dawn butchering animals in or near his building a very primitive leather and wood tent was erected in the woods and became their home base for the rest of Dawn's training. She did all the hunting and gathering as well as chasing after the parties horses. It took Dawn three weeks of punching and kicking to finally cause the sandbag to burst. She then was given a new bag but no shovel and told to fill it. After about six weeks of training Gerald told her that she had progressed enough that they could start heading back to Cerren Berra without everyone constantly monitoring her. They found a ship that would be leaving in two days and rented another room at the inn, allowing Fiona to have her own room while Dawn slept in their old room. Dawn laid down and blew out the candle that was on the table before closing her eyes. Within a few hours the sound of something skittering through the walls could be heard followed by small claws going across the wooden floor. The creature stopped and looked to where the candle was, it sat up on the back third of its body and looked first to the empty bed Fiona had been using and then to Dawn who snored the night away. In one fluid motion while it was staring at her Dawn's hand darted under her pillow and came back with a knife, launching that knife and embedding it between the black eyes of the creature. It fell on its side, an oily smelling greenish blood spurting from the wound as it died. Dawn relit her candle, stood up from her bed and removed her knife from the creatures head. She then opened her door, knocking on Fiona's door "I killed it," Dawn said. Rothgar could be heard clapping at her success from a few doors down while Fiona came out to investigate. Fiona said "Monstrous Centipede, between a small and a medium sized adult, nasty thing, good kill, Dawn. I'll help you dispose of it in the morning," before turning and going to bed. Dawn took out an old sack and tossed it over the creature before going back to bed. She slept more peacefully that night than she had since before she was born.

Chapter 4: Stepping into the future

Fiona had helped Dawn dig a deep pit for the Centipede and the whole group had the eternal gratitude of the innkeeper but not to the point of offering Gerald any of his money back. They left port on a deep water ship named The Sea Dancer later that day. The captain of the ship was an elf named Erroyl, who sang his orders to his crew and was known for dancing his way across the deck of the ship in the fiercest weather. The crew of the ship was a mixture of races and gender and worked with a quiet and efficient harmony. There were only a few ships near the port when they left and all of them disappeared from sight before then next day, drifting over the horizon in different directions. A day out to sea and Rothgar was the only one showing he had lived his life on land, vomiting the contents of his stomach every few hours. Fiona spent most of her time drawing images of various healing and poisonous herbs and leafs for Dawn, teaching her not just what the plants look like but how to process them into something useful. Gerald continued training Dawn physically as well as with weapons, she was starting to show a mastery with the quarterstaff and could disarm and knock down a group of attackers without being struck. The captain of the ship let her run along the deck knowing the his crew could work around her callisthenics. The captain and crew helped Dawn learn quite a bit about climbing and balance. The crew showed Dawn every knot in the book and some the author of that book had never known. She could navigate from the bottom level of the ship, rocking in waves with people everywhere to the crow's nest in less than three minutes, with her fully loaded pack on her back. She practised magic as she could but needed someone more well versed in nature magic to teach her more. She began to not just move and look like a soldier but to think like a soldier. Gerald taught her strategy and Erroyl played a strategy game that he called chess. She was a quick study but no where near the level of the Captain or Gerald. She could beat the whole crew except for the Captain and his first mate (a gnome called Books who handled most of the ships paper work) and Gerald. She beat Rothgar, although Rothgar had trouble sitting for a whole game. Life on board continued like this until shortly into the third day, the day of iron and death.

Chapter 5: Romance of the Sea

Midnight on the Sea Dancer arrived and Gerald was discussing the ships path with the Captain. They had a choice soon that the captain was leaving to Gerald, one path was much safer and took them directly where they wanted with only a minimally increased risk of pirates. The other path was to travel a channel between Cerren Berra and Mobia, the Continent that Dawn had grown up on. The Channel was called the Dragons revenge and it had seen the death of many ships either on the jagged rocks or being sunk by swells. The wind and tide would often press a ship through the channel at nearly twice the speed of a normal ship but the chances of being shoved up onto a rocky death was more than most Captains were willing to risk. The Captain had travelled it before and could do so again, for a price. Gerald looked at the map and didn't see enough benefit to the speed and was about to tell the Captain to head straight for Ryelef when the first burning ballista bolt hit the deck of the Sea Dancer.

Two more burning bolts landed, one at each end of the ship, the crew busied themselves by fetching water from buckets on long ropes to put out the fires and then a cry from the crow's nest of "PIRATES!" flared into the night. After yelling pirates two more times the man who had been up there fell to the deck, a crossbow bolt through his neck. Ballista bolts hit the side of the ship, these with large iron chains attached and the ship was being pulled to one side. Rothgar cast a spell to illuminate the night and half the crew regretted him doing so, they saw another ship not four hundred feet from them, a ship that few the flag of a ship on a sea of blood, the flag of the Captains of Blood. They were a fleet of pirates, each ship was captained by a sailor of dark legend, some of whom were believed to be demons hiding in the bodies of willing men an women. This particular ship was The Iron Maiden, Captained by Sir James Stewart, the fiercest man to sail the seas of Caledonie, known for skinning his victims alive until their shipmates had surrendered all that they had and all that they could imagine having. Several members of the ships crew drew their swords and immediately and intentionally fell on them at the realization of who they were facing. Other crew members rushed below deck and started hacking at the wood surrounding the ballista bolts, trying to wrench the ship to freedom before it was too late. Erroyl looked to Gerald and said "Get ye peoples below deck for safety"

Pirates could be heard chanting "More Rum! More Rum! More Rum for the Pirates!" and banging their swords together. Shouts of "Iron and Blood" were heard as the ships were drawn closer together. The crew of the Sea Dancer readied themselves with ranged and melee weapons, waiting for the captain to give the command. Erroyl shouted "Unto the gates of hell with them my loves!" and the first volley of arrows flew out into the dark seething mass that was the deck of the pirate ship. The pirate ship returned fire with painful accuracy, felling a third of the crew. Three more volleys of arrows and stone flew from the Sea Dancer and were returned by the pirates before boarding planks came across allowing armed men to jump to the dancer. The deck of the Dancer was a plane of death and blood, the pirates hacking at anything that moved - whether friend or foe. The seamen of the Dancer fought with a fine finesse, giving back to the pirates with painful interest, they were fighting the pirates back onto their own ship before a second wave of troops came on deck, cutting the dancers crew to ribbons. Erroyl himself had fought his way to Captain Stewart. When the two captains blades struck men on both sides stopped and circled, watching. Parry followed thrust and as a deadly artistry flowed on the blood saturated deck. The men's swords flashed and slashed for nearly an hour before Captain Erroyl faltered, slipping on a bloody rag. He went down on one knee and looked up to Captain Stewart's blade resting on Erroyl's shoulder, waiting to deliver the coup de grace. "you fight well, captain, for this I will spare you and the rest of your crew if you all toss your blades into the deep. Any who wish to follow their blades are free to do so as well. Just remember these waters be the feeding ground for sea monsters and many leagues from shore, " said Captain Stewart. The sailors of the Sea Dancer looked to their captain for guidance, he nodded and said "do it", the survivors tossed their blades into the sea, Captain Erroyl walked to the rail, kissed his blade before jumping into the brine.

The pirates kept their word and allowed the crew to live. The pirates went below deck and quickly found Dawn, Fiona, Gerald, and Rothgar sitting in their cabin quietly playing cards. The cabin was searched and the pirates did not find weapons or anything that looked valuable. The party was brought on deck and looked over by the captain, Gerald told Captain Stewart that they were a family of woodworkers moving to Cerren Berra, that Dawn and Fiona were his daughters and Rothgar was his apprentice. "Your life plans be changing there. Our next stop will be the markets of Talia. Your youngest here will fetch a fine price to the brothels. Your other daughter couldn't get the business of a troll, too many muscles. Her and the rest of you will be going to be common slaves," said Captain Stewart, who gave a flick of the wrist to one of his crewmen. The crew then quickly tied up Fiona, Gerald, and Rothgar before taking them below deck. Dawn was taken below deck to a separate room and a guard was placed outside the door, Dawn heard the guard being told to kill anyone who tried to touch the girl.

Dawn wasn't sure how long she had been in the cabin, she was given three meals but she doubted they were all on the same day. She was awoken by a sudden gasp from just outside her door, followed by a soft thud. The door to the room opened and in the darkness she could just barely make out the face of Captain Erroyl, dragging the body of a dead pirate in to the room. "I need you to not cry out, fair maiden. Did they get your weapons?" he asked.

"No, we hid them in the space you told us about in our cabin. How did you get back on board?" she asked with astonishment.

"I simply swam under the ship. I was given a magical shell by a mermaid once that lets me breath while underwater. I collected the fallen swords and then snuck up while they were drinking themselves stupid. I shall be arming my crew and readying them, take this knife, go down the hall, third door on the right, your friends await their freedom. Two guards watch for intruders from within, you will need to bloody your pale hands, can you do this?" he replied.

"Yeah, I've killed before," she said.

"A little career advice, don't become a thief, a lie from your mouth is like a dragon in the room, hard to not notice," he replied before disappearing into the darkness.

Dawn crept through the darkness, feeling the wall on the right side, counting the doors. At the third door she felt the sharpness of the blade, felt its length and width. She could picture in her mind what the room would look like, one pirate on either side of the door with her people tied up and against the far wall near the port hole. She took hold of the door knob firmly, making sure it did not move. Dawn held the knife at shoulder height, point straight ahead of her and took a deep breath. She shoved the door open doing her best to make it slam into anyone behind it while striking out with the dagger, sheathing it into the throat of a pirate who had fallen asleep standing in place. The other guard had indeed been right behind the door, sitting on a chair next to a small table with the rooms only artificial light, a lantern next to him. The room was bathed in the light of a full moon as the lantern shattered on the floor. The door smashed and dazed the pirate behind the door, leaving him sitting in a pile of splintered wood on the floor. Dawn tried to remove the knife stuck in the neck of the first pirate but it had gone all the way through, sticking into the wood wall behind and she could not get it out before the other guard stood on wobbly legs. She grabbed the dead pirates sword and dove at the dizzy man's legs, knocking him down. The pirate rolled over and came up on his knees, drawing his sword before being stabbed through the chest. Dawn stood and walked over to Gerald and the others, they were seated on the floor, facing the wall, unable to see what had transpired. Dawn cut through their ropes to free them and Gerald looked in horror at what he had only heard. Dawn was covered in the spray of blood that shined in the moonlight. Dawn quickly told Gerald about Erroyl and what was going on. The party made their way out of the room and were met by Books, Captain Erroyl's second in command. Books told them to wait here and he'd be back as quick as he could. Gerald pulled Dawn, Fiona, and Rothgar aside and told them "no matter what else happens, we must get Dawn to Ryelef, I have a contact who will be there in two weeks, He'll be able to get Dawn where she needs to go. Once you two get her to my contact, a crusty old bugger named Cedric, he used to be a barbarian and now he's a paladin dedicated to St. Boric, you will be paid in full plus your bonus, and you can do as you please then,". Books, who had been escorting groups of sailors returned and said "keep low and follow me quietly," and lead them out onto the deck, they crept to the rail and found a rope ladder had been strung between the ships with members of the Sea Dancers crew crossing it one at a time. The party slipped through the darkness, quickly boarding the Dancer. A shout of "ESCAPE!" was heard from the crows nest of the Iron Maiden and the ships deck was quickly flooded with stumbling drunk pirates. Captain Stewart looked over to the deck of the Sea Dancer. Erroyl was standing at the edge of the ship, staring defiantly at Captain Stewart when he said to Gerald "get to the lifeboats, take the map and whatever is important to you, get the girl and her pet rock to safety. My crew will stand to the last man, we will die proudly soaked in the blood of these scurvy dogs. Gerald looked at the Captain as if he had read one too many romance scrolls before ordering Fiona, Rothgar, and Dawn to one of the lifeboats. Gerald ducked below deck for a moment coming back a minute later with all of their gear. He tossed the packs into the boat and had one foot in when the Sea Dancer was rocked by the impact of hull on hull collision with the Iron Maiden. Gerald was pitched forward into and out of the lifeboat, the impact also releasing the winch on their boat sending it into the dark below.

Chapter 6: The Dragons Revenge

They searched for signs of Gerald with Rothgar diving into the sea, but they did not find him again. They quietly paddled away from the battle, Rothgar drying himself with magic as Fiona and Dawn took turns with the oars. Navigating by night was difficult, especially for the group of landlubbers. But by dawn they had managed to get themselves within sight of the shoreline and away from the column of smoke rising to the east. They continued following the shoreline, finding a copy of the ships map in the gear that Gerald had tossed into the boat before falling into the sea. It appeared that they were in the channel called the dragons revenge, but without a sail to take advantage of its effects. They took turns paddling their way forward, hoping to get to some point that was not a solid wall of white mountain side. Dusk came and they decided to stop for the night, gathering several large heavy weapons and tying them together to use as an anchor. Rothgar called up several protective spirits and had them guarding the boat from all sides while they slept. Dawn had difficulty sleeping with the clear and star filled night sky above her. She dipped in and out of a dream state, never fully sleeping that night but feeling like she was communing with the Divine while drunk on summer Strawberry wine. Her thoughts turned to a story she heard once of the birth of magic, how it all came from a woman named Amouvei who had had relations with the spirit of the divine. It was from her that all magic became available to humans. It was from her anger that the intelligent beings outside of the seven orginal races were born. She wondered if her magic would ever be something impressive and was on the edge of practising when one of the protective spirits Rothgar had conjured flared brightly, battling some other small craft on the water. Dawn woke Rothgar and Fiona, they each grabbed an oar and started paddling without having raised their anchor first. The protective spirit battled the boat but the enemy had magic too, and snuffed the spirit quickly before catching up to the lifeboat.

They held crossbows at Rothgar and Fiona while tying the crafts together, Dawn was tied up and tossed onto the Pirate boat, with the lead pirate saying "This one looks tender enough for a good price on the market. These other two will be lucky if the captain lets them shine his boots," Fiona and Rothgar were searched before being tied up, laid on their bellies and left in the life boat, before the pirates Mage used his magic to turn the vessel around and start heading back the way they had come. This vessel was larger than the lifeboat and had a single sail mast but was unlikely to be a truly seaworthy vessel in its own right. They went back up the channel, the wind and sea currents being pushed aside as the pirates paddled the waters. One of the pirates that was paddling turned to the leader and said "Lieutenant, can't you have the mage turn the winds to push us back to the ship instead of just keeping them from pushing us the wrong way?" the lieutenant backhanded the oarsman and said "quiet you filthy scum! The Mage charges for each spell and he ain't here so you can get lazy. Now back to your oar, and maybe I won't tell the captain of your sass," they paddled for several hours paying no mind to Dawn, who was using her training in knots to try escaping. She knew what knot this one was but in this position it would be very difficult at best to escape. She did have another idea though, a spell she had figured out during her six weeks of survival training. She concentrated on what it felt like to have a dry throat, concentrated on being parched, on needing water on her.

"Start bailing men! This damned tub has a leak!" the Lieutenant shouted.

The pirates started scooping water out by hand and couldn't figure out where it was coming from, but they were afraid that they'd be sunk in a few minutes at this rate of filling. One of the crewmen jumped overboard and started swimming, the Lieutenant began yelling for him to get back here and was knocked out of the boat by the rest of the crew suddenly diving overboard. The all swam off in the darkness as Dawn sipped the water around her, felt refreshed, and saw the rest of the water draining away. She then sat up and managed to wiggle free of the knot and untie her feet. She then cast a fog spell that made it impossible to see more than a foot past the edge of the boat.

The pirates mage sat in the boat still, looking at Dawn. "Since my protectors have all swam away I guess I am your prisoner. I will not put up a struggle as long as you don't toss me over, I never learned that whole swimming thing and I don't have any spells to keep me from drowning," he said.

Dawn looked at him and asked "can you untie my friends?"

"Yes my Lady," he replied, and with a snap of the finger the ropes fell off of them. Fiona and Rothgar tossed their gear to Dawn before hopping over themselves. The Mage introduced himself as Cornelius and with a flip of the wrist turned the ship around in the other direction. Fiona Rothgar and Dawn were all paddling while the mage was allowing the natural winds and currents to propel them where they had wanted to go. If they read the map right they were about a third of the way through the channel already. They paddled for the rest of the night and let the winds carry them for the day, they started sleeping in shifts, always someone awake and watching their magic using prisoner. After a few days they saw the end of Dragons revenge, with rocky cliffs to the left and to the right, open sea straight ahead.

"The closest port is to our left, a few days south, but Cerren Berra is to the north, according to this map there isn't anywhere to land for another ten days, we need to hug the coastline until then," said Rothgar. Fiona checked the map to confirm what he had said before they started rowing.

"If I help with rowing can will you set me free when we get to a place to land?" asked the Mage.

"Sure" said Dawn, not seeing any risk from him. Preserved foods ran out quickly on the boat as they hadn't packed more than three days of rations and Dawn began catching fish by hand that they would eat raw after magical purification. The swaying blue green tide did nothing to help Rothgar's nausea and soon Fiona had trouble keeping anything they ate down. Dawn began gathering wine skins full of sea water that she converted to fresh once a day.

They finally found a beach area that had a path leading further inland and they paddled right up onto the sand, cracking the boats rudder in the process. Dawn, Fiona, and Rothgar headed up a steep path with the mage walking along behind, at a distance. The terrain stayed fairly rough for the next two days until they emerged into a forest that ran next to an actual road with two signs, south to Cassen and east to Ryelef. They headed east arriving at the locked gates of Ryelef near midnight. A guard stood outside and told them that the gate wouldn't be open till the morning but they could camp safely in the grass till then for only two silver pieces a piece, without payment they could sleep in a cave a mile down the road but the guards wouldn't help them if they were attacked. There was already a large group of people sleeping on the ground, some in sleeping bags and some with one person tents. Dawn pulled a gold piece out of her bag and handed it to the guard, telling him to keep the change. They slept until the sun could be seen peeking over the horizon making the dew that had settled across everyone glisten.

Chapter 7: Ryelef

Dawn, Fiona, and Rothgar stood outside the gates to of the city of Ryelef in the early morning amongst a large group of other non natives. There was a half elf and a half orc standing next to each other and talking. There was a very handsome young man with dark curly hair and dark green eyes. He had pale skin and blushed every time his eyes met Dawns, and he seemed to have a perpetual grin going on. There was a gnome who barely came up to Dawns knees running around talking to everyone who would listen. She had introduced herself as Dubia Foechuckle, bane to the thieves of the world. She was also trying to pick the pockets of anyone who wasn't watching, her small hand drifted towards Dawn's coin purse but was met with a hard slap and a sharp glance from Dawn. There were over a dozen other people of varying races waiting to get in. Ryelef was an old city, the third founded in Cerren Berra. It had many building jammed between dozens of creeks. All the roads were cobblestone and crumbling bridges were everywhere, as well as a fishy stench. The city was a port and circular in design, a large stone wall going around the city with guard towers at regular intervals. There were huge iron gates at each entrance to the city, a total of seven roads lead in and out, but non natives were only allowed to enter through the southern most gate. The city seemed to be all grey with black lines marking the separation of one grey from the next and was under a permanent fog. There were homeless elderly people, mostly women near the openings to alleys, some begging, some fishing, some fighting, some gambling, and some trying to lure people to them with offers of potions, purchasable goods or love. The city was populated by a scared and depressed people, most of the young people have left. Dawn faced the southern gate to the city, the group milled about waiting for the guards to open up for the day. The gates finally open, and now a guard stood in front. "I am required to give you the following information: no fighting, stealing or loose women's are allowed in Ryelef. If you are staying for the night we recommend the Rusty Crow Bar, its cheap and in the slums, where foreigners belong. There is a sundown curfew on anyone not from this city, which would be all of you, so if you haven't finished business or rented a room by then and are found within city limits you'll be arrested. We now will begin our screening process, if you walk past me before I give the okay you'll be dead before you get past the gate so don't try nothing funny, got it? Form a single file line, one at a time, starting with you", the guard said as he looked at Dawn. The guard then looked to a robed figure who stands in a doorway in the gatehouse tower, he seems to be facing the line. He turned towards the guard and nods. "You may enter, enjoy your stay, buy a souvenir, remember to tell your friends and bring the whole family next time," said the Guard. Dawn strolled down the street seeing houses, shops, and vendors crowding each side of narrow streets and alleys selling everything one could want, and even more things that one wouldn't. The scents of breakfast wafted in from all directions, mostly covering the ever present fishy stench in the air of this ancient city. All of the entrants are eyed suspiciously from the moment they enter the gates. A courier ran up to Dawn handing her a scroll, nodded and ran off to another person who had just entered. The courier was maybe 11 years old, skinny, gangly, pimple faced and innocent looking. His hair is a dirty blonde colour and cut into a bowl shape. His clothes are ordinary for local tastes, he had no armour, jewellery, or weapons.

The Scroll has the red wax seal of the treasury department on it. The scroll simply says _B__e at the Mouths Inn tomorrow at noon_, no signature is given.

Dawn arrived at the Rusty Crow Bar and rented a room for 1 silver piece a night. The mistress of the house was a half orc named Yovalna. "Dinner is served till 11:30, the bar closes at 12:30 and the doors lock at 1:00 am. If you're not in by then you must sleep with the street hags. Any food, drink, or service can be had for a price," she said with a wink. Each guest is asked if they would like to wake up at a certain time and charged 1 copper piece for the service and are handed a well trained rooster.

The building itself consisted of a common room which was the main entrance to the street, there was a fireplace always going with a massive cauldron of stew always bubbling, it was said that it had been cooking non stop for generations with the daily addition of meats, vegetables, and water. The whole building had hard wood floors and a staff that ignored the cobwebs in the corners. There was a series of round tables set up throughout the common room with round stump like stools for chairs. There was a bar and a kitchen behind the bar, the bar had a fairly large inventory that was covered in cobwebs and rarely used, the main drink of choice amongst non natives was what was called 'hoose broo' It was dark brownish black with no head and a slight oily appearance. Occasionally someone complained of foreign debris like fish scales, leaves, and twigs floating in it, they usually stopped complaining when Yovalna threatened to charge them extra for those 'drink accessories'. There was a set of stairs that lead up three floors to the various guest rooms, at the very tip top there was an attic for the belongings of guests who never checked out, auctions were held on an annual basis.

Chapter 8: Luther T. Fiske

Upon arrival at the Mouths Inn Dawn was met at the door by a guard of the city. He asked her for her name, and after she told him he checked a list. "Oh, okay, you're on the list, come on in" he said as he opened the door for her.

Dawn saw several people sitting around a table, a tall thin man sit at the head. The tall thin man wears a dark black wool cloak, hood currently back. He has a silver clasp on the neck of his cloak, wears black leather gloves and matching boots. His skin is very pale and has a moist, rubbery look. He has very large bluish grey eyes set wide on his head and his hair is dark black, slicked back with a widow's peak in front and a well braided pony tail in back. The tall thin man clears throat, speaking in a high and nasal voice "You have all been invited here for a reason. Some of you may have come to the city for wealth, some for fame, and some for adventure. This is your chance for all of that and to help a noble cause. I am Luther T. Fiske, but you can call me Lu. Recently the city guard unionised and now refuses to take part in any duties outside the city, especially the more unsavoury specialized tasks. I am here to offer you the opportunity that they have shunned. If you agree, you will be given a mission to do for the city. Completion of the task will give each of you 200 Gold Pieces per mission, plus any non magical items you find on the way. If you find any magical items I request that you turn them in to me for inspection, and as long as the item is not too dangerous I will be happy to give it back. The first Mission starts tomorrow at the South western Gate, be there by dawn. If you decline my...offer... you will be expected to complete your business with this city today, and will be expected to be out of its gates before sundown. Failure to comply will subject you to arrest and mandatory service to the city, in the form of the aforementioned missions, the difference is you will not be getting paid, and spend each night in the city prison instead of the comforts of the inn. Trust me when I suggest that it would be in your best interest for you to agree to the mission," he said.

Upon returning to the Rusty Crow Bar the very attractive young man who had been smiling at Dawn and had also been at the recruitment meeting pulled out a wooden flute and started playing music, juggling, and telling stories. He told a story of how a man in prison tried to tunnel out, but realized it would take too long, so he stacked the dirt up to climb out a window at the top of his cell. He told a story of crazy Drew McIntosh who was captured by wood fairies who threatened to fry him in oil if he lied, and boil him in water if he told the truth. Drew didn't like either idea so he told them that they would fry him in oil, which confused them into setting him free. The Bard then sang a song of the Goddess of the Moon, singing about the moon and her court of stars dancing nightly. The song was interrupted by a brawl between two dwarves and an elf. Rothgar was entertaining himself with no less than three serving girls while Fiona had gone straight to her room after dinner. Fiona had seemed very irritable all day and Dawn decided she would check on her after one drink of the house wine. One drink led to two and the third followed soon after. She toasted Gerald and the fallen old kingdom, she toasted Anle who kept her safe but treated her like a servant, she toasted the pirates she had to kill and those who tried to kill her. She toasted the future she would make and those who would fall in spite of her best efforts. She then stumbled up the stairs and knocked on Fiona's door. She could have been drunker than she thought but she was sure she heard the growling of some large animal from inside. She hesitantly opened the door to see a bear curled up on the floor, Fiona's clothes folded neatly and put on a dresser. She pulled out a knife and slipped into the room, wanting to know if the bear had eaten Fiona or if her friend was running the streets naked. The bear awoke and lifted its head, looking at Dawn. The bear had a shaggy golden coat and strangely enough blue eyes. Dawn was entranced by those eyes, they were the exact shade of icy blue of Fiona. The bear sat up, staring deeply into Dawns eyes, staring with an inner intelligence not seen in most animals. The bear carefully pulled a single sheet of parchment off the desk, dipped one claw into the inkwell and began writing in a slow and deliberate manner the words _I am Fiona. _Dawn looked to the bear and asked " How is this possible?"

The bears response was to write the word _were-bear._ She then gently placed on paw on the left side of her head, pulling back the fur to reveal a blue paw print tattoo, the memory in Dawns head of their first meeting clicked, this was Fiona.

Fiona the were-bear then wrote one more word on the parchment, _secret_.

"Okay, I will keep your secret," replied Dawn. She then told Fiona she was going to her room for the night, and closed the door behind herself. Dawn fell asleep quickly in spite of the strange swirling feeling she had in her head.

Chapter 9: Copper Head Road

In the darkness, an hour prior to the sunrise Dawn awoke to the sound of a knock at her door. With a rusty short sword she approached the door, opening it a crack, just enough to see the courier who handed her a scroll from Fiske the day before. "Get ready an head to the south western gate, Fiske doesn't like waiting," he said before running down the hall. Dawn's compatriots were already dressed and waiting for her in the main room of the inn, they all set off shortly after she joined them. The streets of the city were cold and dark, the few public sources of light show a fog that reached most peoples shoulders, if they were tall enough.

Mr. Fiske stands just outside the south western gate, and smiled at each person who passed. He greeted the group. "Good of you to join us. Today you will be doing a small favour for the community. You will be taking a stroll down the south western pass, known to the locals as Copper Head road. Don't let the name fool you, it's quite idyllic, it was named after a copper bust left at the beginning of the road by a local artisan in honour of one of our greatest Kings, King Gary Nerdio. We need you to investigate the road, local merchants have complained of some sort of illicit activity going on a few miles from here, we suspect an illegal distillery. Shut it down and stop the heartless bandits running it from terrorizing innocent travellers. The gate will be locked until you return successfully from this mission," said Fiske before he turned and walked back through the gates to the city, his guards back their way through the gate, never taking their eyes off the party, the gate closes and locks.

The group started walking down the road, Fiona and Rothgar standing on either side of Dawn. The road was made primarily of stones and dirt, presumably carved out of the forest by the feet and wheels of horses, travellers, and wagons over the century. There were many large trees on either side of the road, many covered with parasitic plants that would slowly choke the forest. The stones that made up the road were smooth enough to look like river rocks that someone had sanded. A man in the group started insisting that he lead, as he knew the road like the back of his hand. He was very loud and boastful, claiming to be descended from Royalty. He also claimed to be a ranger and to be masterful in dealing with all wildlife, having successfully wrestled a bear when he was ten. Dawn remembered him from last night in the inn, he had loudly announced that Derk was here and the celebration could begin. He had been offering to tell stories of his greatness for any who would buy him a drink. He had also offered any woman in the building a wonderful night, and had managed to back Dawn into a corner, literally, and tried to convince her to go upstairs with him, before Fiona stepped between him and Dawn, threatening to make his pants a sheath for her blade. As the day grew later and the day became warmer the group became social, strangers introducing themselves and chatting.

Dawn started to notice the wildlife in the area, lots of birds in the trees, and the occasional bee, but the countryside felt empty of the normal small animals that she usually sensed. She did start picking up on snakes. Lots and lots of snakes, on branches or in the grass, the snakes felt...tired and a little hungry. Gossip circulated through the group and legends sprang from the lips of the downtrodden. One story floated through the group that the real reason the road was named copper head was that it was made from the slithering of serpents. The slowly began creeping out of hiding and into the warm sunlight, the stones of the road seeming to be very attractive. Most of the party didn't notice the snakes, but Dawn could not only spot a serpent at ten paces but knew which ones were poisonous even if she didn't know the local name for it. When Derk was about to step on a particularly venomous and large snake, assuming it to be a log, Dawn shouted "STOP!" and ran to the front. She started pointing out the snakes and the party became very quiet and nervous. One of the walkers took out a small metal flute, he called it a tin whistle, and began playing a charming tune, he claimed to be a bard by trade and introduced himself to Dawn as Janithus.

The forest gave way to swamp, and the air became more humid. Ponds of murky water were on either side of the road and moss hung from the mostly dead trees. As the party came around a bend in the road they saw a wagon. Janithus was hushed but the people at the wagon didn't seem to have noticed his music or the party. Fiona took out a spyglass and looked at what was going on Where there would normally be horses there were two large, very bulky lizards with blinders on. The wagon had one wheel stuck in the mud and there were three people attempting to pull the wheel out of the mud. Fiona identified them as snake people, and their lizards as the dreaded basilisks. The snake people had yellowish green skin with some scaly patches, they had sharp angular features and forked tongues. Some of the party wanted to rush in and kill them for not being human, but the majority decided to simply go down there calmly, find out if they knew anything about the distillery and offer assistance. Most of the party adjusted their weapons to be more prominent and noticeable before heading down to the wagon.

"Hello, can we be of assistance?" Shouted Rothgar

The snake people, stopped and looked at the group, they were easily outnumbered, and gladly accepted the assistance. The party shied away from the basilisks and focused on lifting the wheel out of the mud and onto more solid ground. Dawn concentrated on keeping out of the way. She wanted to help but realized she didn't have the strength for lifting. She did notice that there wasn't much in the way of solid ground in this area, and wondered if she could change that. She focused on the area to the side of the wagon, where the party wanted to lift the wagon to and could feel the energy flow from her into the ground, she felt the water pulling back from that spot and diving down deep into the ground, pushing stones and rocks up past it. The party didn't notice but the ground around them had suddenly gone dry, and they quickly were able to lift the wagon out of the rut. After the wagon was unstuck Derk started asking if the snake people knew anything about the Distillery. The serpent ladies said told him they didn't want any trouble and that they had been hired only to transport the product from the Still to a local castle, some sort of school for witchcraft and haberdashery. Derk asked if he could see the contents of the wagon, and it was filled with wine skins, each wineskin held not wine, but a potion for curing wounds. He also found a letter from a Lady De Noir to a Lord Ravenbourne, confirming receipt of payment for one thousand wine skins of heal all potion. The snake people wanted to leave at that point with or without their wagon, but Derk pulled his sword out and grabbed one of the snake people, holding his blade to her throat, telling the other two that they would be leading the party to the Still or else. Dawn felt disgusted at the idea of taking a hostage, and popped Derk in the back of the head, right were his head and neck met with the end of her walking staff. Derk fell like a bag of flour, the serpentine woman squirming out of his arms.

The snake people introduced themselves as Shermia, their leader (who Derk had taken hostage) Shellia, Shermia's daughter, and Slairice, Shellia's partner. They said the Still master wouldn't pay them until after they delivered the product and that they would agree to guide the party in spite of Derk's actions if they could keep him, which the party agreed to. Derk was quickly hog tied and gagged before being placed in the back of the wagon. A mile further along the path the group came across a Medusa, stood next to a strange device. It was a copper funnel that led via copper tube into a the mouth of a Mandrake root, with another copper tube leading out of where its navel should have been, into a coil of copper suspended over a fire. That coil then went into the bottom of a glass sphere, a stream of steam was flowing out of the pipe. There was another copper tube connected to the top and running down into a wineskin that sat on the ground. Shermia whispered to the others in the party that the Medusa was blind, and not to worry about her. Rothgar hesitantly approached the Medusa, she turned in his direction and said "Who goes there?" the Medusa asked

"My name is Rothgar, and we were sent by the city of Ryelef to investigate this here still. Would you mind telling me what you're doing?" said Rothgar.

"You must be very brave or very foolish to tempt the wrath of a Medusa, Rothgar. Do you not see what I am? Have you not heard the legends of my kind turning entire armies into statues? Were your parents siblings?" she asked

"Uh, I have heard those stories but I've also heard that you're blind, and that a blind Medusa gets no man stoned. As for my parents, I don't know, I was raised by monks in a monastery dedicated to the Sun God that most people call The Farm. I was found by monks in the back of a broken down wagon," he said.

"I see. Well, no, obviously I don't see, but I do understand. I am at your mercy. If only my noble and loyal guards hadn't left already with their shipment things would be different," she said with a sigh.

"Actually they led us here, they said something about you being a cheap snake," Rothgar replied.

As Rothgar and the Medusa, who introduced herself as Lady De Noir where trading barbs back and forth Dawn noticed a few yards past the still there was an elaborately carved stone pedestal with a copper chalice on it. Dawn walked over to the pedestal and could feel somewhere in the back of her mind that there was energy in this chalice. She reached up to touch it and was immediately thrown back twenty feet by a massive shock. She awoke later, the group all around her looking with worry. Fiona was pouring some of the potion from the wine skin into Dawns mouth. Once Dawn was on her feet the Lady De Noir told her that the chalice could only be retrieved by a specific set of movements and that as a sign of good faith she would tell Dawn how to get it, hoping that Dawn would help spare her life. Rothgar gave Dawn a thumbs up sign from behind the Medusa and Dawn said okay. The Medusa told Dawn that she needed to stand where she had been, and then to kneel, bow head from the kneeling position before standing while keeping her head down, then she had to reach out at take the chalice. Dawn did so and the Chalice was in her hand.

The Still was taken apart and everyone in the party carried part of it with them on their way back to Ryelef. Rothgar carried the Mandrake and Fiona carried the glass sphere. The Medusa gave Shermia a large handful of emeralds and then climbed into the wagon, apologizing profusely to the other snake people as the wagon drove off. Mr Fiske met the party at the gates, his guards started handing out leather bags filled with gold, and took the Mandrake as well as the Glass Sphere and the Chalice. The party was allowed to keep the copper tubing to sell and divide amongst themselves. Fiske noticed that Derk was missing and and said to the party that he assumed they did what it could to save him. Fiske then told the party to meet him at dawn the day after tomorrow for the next mission and that they are free to do as they please until then.

Dawn, Rothgar, and Fiona headed back to the Inn, with Janithus and a few others behind them. Once at the Inn Dawn opened her leather bag and examined the coins. She now held more money than ever before. There was a mixture of gold, silver, and copper coins in the bag, Dawn delighted in taking out two of each and laying them on the table, one on the head side and the other on the tail side, and examining the money of Cerren Berra. The coins were made to be exactly one ounce of each metal. The gold piece had a depiction of the Sun God Reius on the head, with an eagle in flight on the tail. The Eagle clutched a magic wand in its beak, a sword in one talon and an egg in the other. The Magic Wand is said to represent the wizards that guided the Noble Families that founded Cerren Berra, the Sword represents the Warriors that protected the Noble Families and the egg represents the future. The silver piece had an image of a Moon Goddess in a pose of dancing with stars swirling about on the head side while the tail side had an elk standing on a precipice with the full moon between its antlers. The copper piece had on the head side a dwarf hammering a non descript piece of metal on an anvil. On the tail side there was bountiful basket of fruits, vegetables, and wheat.

This night was a celebration of the living, with dancing, drinking, and singing. At one point Fiona saw Dawn in a corner snogging Janithus, she sighed but decided Dawn was old enough for this and she'd let them have fun as long as they didn't head off to a room together. They went to bed separately, Fiona catching Janithus by the arm and warning him in no uncertain terms of the consequences for hurting Dawn. Fiona headed off to bed earlier than she wanted to out of fear of another Ursicanthropic incident, changing out of her clothes and sitting on the floor, waiting. She had been like this for about five years now, ever since a pack of werewolves killed most of her village. She was bitten but saved by a wandering wizard who she had saved from a runaway wagon. The wizard kept her sedated and tied a magical sash around her waist, it dissolved into her skin and the chaos of the wolf within was replaced by the calm protectiveness of the spirit of the bear. Were-bears had a greater degree of control over their changing, and as long as they changed fully for at least twenty eight hours a month they wouldn't have to change during the full moon, but her cycle had been interrupted by this business with Mr. Kingsman. She didn't like becoming a bear and avoided changing as much as she could, generally hiding in the woods on the nights of the Full Moon. Fur did begin to grow from her skin and she could feel her bones and muscles shifting, becoming longer, stronger, and thicker. A muzzle protruded from her face and where there had been a beautiful, strong young woman now sat a massive bear that soon curled up and slept peacefully through the night.

Chapter 10: The Haunting of the Past

In the darkness, an hour prior to the sunrise Dawn awoke to the sound of a knock at her door. With a heavy wine bottle she approached the door, opening it a crack, just enough to see the courier who had woke her the morning before. "Get ready an head to the Eastern gate, Fiske doesn't like waiting," he said before running down the hall. Dawn's compatriots were already dressed and waiting for her in the main room of the inn, Fiona drumming her fingers on the table and Janithus greeting her with a smile, holding out a clay cup of a dark and bitter smelling liquid. "It'll wake you up!" he said, slightly too chipper for this time of day. Rothgar said it was called Goat Bean juice, and that it would grow hair on your chest before burning it off. After Dawn drank the hot liquid (and checked for smoking chest hairs on herself) they all set off.

The streets of the city smelled of fermented fish, which, was actually a product that one could buy, some of the locals preferred it to beer. The party arrived at the East Central gate before sunrise. Mr. Fiske greets everyone with his standard issue : "Good of you to join us," before going into an explanation of the mission.

"Today you will be doing a small favour for the loyal farmers that this region depends on. We have received word that a group of raiders is heading for the farms intent on stealing all they can and burning the rest. The village's economic survival depends on these raiders being stopped. We believe that it is a large group of Goblins, Hobgoblins, and their wolf mounts. We don't have exact numbers but we believe that there could be as many as 150 combatants, all of whom claim to be owed some great debt by the people of fair Ryelef, but this is nonsense. Wipe them out, completely. I don't want to ever here of them bothering us again. As before, the gate will be locked until you return successfully from this mission," Fiske turns, walks back through the gates to the city, his guards back their way through the gate, never taking their eyes off the party, and the gate closed and locked.

The group walked along the well travelled road, some people knee deep walking in the ruts carved from generations of wagons travelling to the town with the seasons growth. Trees lined the road but most of the land had been cleared, fields of green grain with tan fluffy tops were waving in the breeze. The group reached the first farm house approximately five miles with another directly across the road from it. Rothgar talked to the head of the family who had heard of the impending attack but had not seen anything yet. The farmer sons had gone off to the edge of the woods to watch for the attacking goblins. The group came upon another farm house two miles down the road with another one directly across from it. The farmers practised a cooperative form of growing produce and animals, no family directly competing against one another and no one making the same product more than two years in a row. There was a total of twenty farms with a communal well in at the centre of the road. The sons of the farmers could be seen standing at the edge of the woods, armed with scythes, pitch forks, and large hammer. The group had spent the day walking and arrives at the edge of the forest just as the sun is setting. The torches from the approaching army could be seen coming quickly, their screams of rage singing death on the wind.

Within a few short and precious moments the first wolf riding goblin arrived, with his brothers right behind him. The wolves were the size of lions, their claws like steel, their canines ripping into the flesh in front of them whether friend or foe. Some of the group and the farmers had longbows and crossbows firing at the raiders felling many of the leather armoured warriors. As damaging as the ranged weapons were the army still advanced quickly, coming into fatal contact with the sons of the land within a few heartbeats that felt like years. Fiona and Rothgar had tried to convince Dawn to hang back but she refused to shirk her duty to the group. She was in the middle of the blood and battle, quarterstaff coming down hard on the skulls of the goblins and wolves.

Magical fire and lightning fell upon the bodies from a half-elf sorcerer named Markus in the group and a half orc wizard named Grimrose. They were lovers in spite of the racial hatred their peoples normally had for one another and had befriended the kind hearted Janithus the Bard, who had defended the men publicly from those who had no tolerance for the unorthodox relationship. The three men formed a family that went beyond biology and they fought like a family, defending those they cared for will all their hearts. With the blooming friendship between Janithus and Dawn, Fiona and Rothgar fell into the protection of the magical men as well. Rothgar was busily swinging his mace, shattering the skulls of goblin and wolf alike. He was also casting healing spells as quickly as opportunity would allow on the most heavily damaged. The group was outnumbered but were still giving the goblins more than they could handle. From the woods on either side of the group came Hobgoblin, beasts that were just as nasty as the goblins in front, but twice their size. Many of the sons of the land fell that night and more than half of the of the group, died the warriors death, some of which had just arrived yesterday seeking fame and fortune-their only reward now a cold unmarked grave where no one who loved them would find them. In the end the chief of the goblin tribe maggot's tooth fell from his wolf, bleeding from the temples and sliding in and out of consciousness, the remains of his army in retreat.

Two of the sons of the land survived with little injury, three other sons had lost limbs and would have trouble helping on the farm in the future. Janithus dug Dawn out of a pile of Goblin bodies, she had caught a war-hammer to the leg and went down just before an explosion of goblins covered her. Dawn knew the bone was shattered but had hope for the healing of Rothgar. She was in pain but would live. The goblin chieftain looked to Fiona, two fingers slowly reaching into a pocket on the inside of his leather vest, pulling out a heavily stained and wrinkled parchment and thrusting it forward. With his eyes rolling into the back of his head he had the strength to say "your master has no honour" before dying.

The parchment was an agreement signed by Fiske, agreeing to give yearly tribute to the goblins for the elimination of a nearby wizarding group, it was written literally in blood. The farmers who had been too old to be useful on the battlefield came out to mourn their losses and bury the dead, by the time the last body was fully covered the group had fallen asleep in the barn of the nearest farm, Dawn in the arms of Janithus, under the watchful eye of Fiona. Fiona saw that Janithus cared for her, but had concerns of the faithfulness of bards in general. Fiona had shown the parchment to Rothgar and everyone who would look. The opinion of the farmers was that it wasn't even slightly surprising as Fiske was considered to be scum and nearly inhuman. In the morning Rothgar presided over a formal remembrance ceremony for the fallen, Janithus played a mournful tune on a wooden flute. Later that day the farmers set up a party to honour the survivors. There was smoked meats, fresh vegetables and hard cider flowing. Rothgar had noticed something with a magical glow in the well, and after a few tries with the water bucket finally managed to pull up what looked like a dagger made of straw. He pocketed it before going back to the party.

In the morning they headed back to Ryelef with an agitated Mr. Fiske meeting them at the gate. He screamed at them, asking why the party didn't return earlier. It seems that while the party was partying with the farmers most of the residents of Potters field, the cities grave yard rose from their entombment as zombies and skeletons before marching through a gate on the southern side, heading directly north without attacking anyone who did not get into their path. Anyone who did get in the way joined the army of dead shortly after. They tore down the northern gate and headed out into the darkness. Mr. Fiske ordered the party to immediately head down to the cemetery and take care of any remaining undead and try and find any info as to who or what raised them. As the party headed to the gates Fiona caught up to Fiske, holding the parchment up. He looked at her as she crossed the threshold of the city, and the parchment turned to dust in her hands. "Did you want to tell me something, Ranger?" he asked to her as she stared in shock at the dust blowing away from her.

"I guess not Mr. Fiske," she said.

"Good. I'd appreciate it if the past didn't get in either of our paths, my lovely. I don't think your friends would be able to appreciate what happens to you when the moon turns full, whether you put those claws to good use or not," he said as he walked away from her and over to Rothgar, pulling the straw dagger out of his pocket before turning and heading off.

The group headed immediately to the southern gate, or what was left of it. Rothgar was in the lead, as they passed the twisted iron frame that had been the gate and headed to potters field, the public cemetery. The ground was covered in the footprints of what looked like a massive army. There was a dense fog in the air, and a stench of death lingers like an unwelcome guest. The cemetery was less than one mile from the gate to the city. Many tombstones, lay shattered on the ground, dozens of graves had a single opening dug out from below. There are several undead wandering about that start to stumble towards the party once they can be seen. A group of eight zombies headed for the party, and Rothgar held his mace high, shouting "In the name of the most high and exalted Sun God Reius, I command you all back into the ground!" The Zombies were faithful to the priests commandment and turned, running back to the graves. Two different zombies tried climbing down the opening of one grave, getting stuck in the hole.

They found one dead human laying on the ground near a large statue on a hill near the centre. He was a young man, wearing wizards robes. The top of his head was peeled open and his brain was missing. There is a large bone next to his body, it glows with magical energy. Rothgar searched the young man's body and found a scroll that said _Sidney, my most trusted student, you know the legend of the Legionnaires of Honour and their connection to the wizard colony I am from. I have received information suggesting that our enemies are preparing to raise the Legionnaires with a relic that has lain dormant for many centuries. I must ask you to go to Potter's field and call the Legionnaire's up for __service again using the amulet I have given you. Tell them to come guard the castle. Tell them to __defend themselves if attacked by the townies but they are not to provoke the townsfolk, just break down __the gate, pass through the town and then break down the Northern gate, heading home. After they have __left find the bone of mastery and bring it back, it should be near the statue. Under no circumstance are __you to attempt to use the Bone, it __WILL__ have disastrous results. And watch out for those squid heads. Lord Ravenbourne_

"Squid heads, great. I kinda figured, been getting bad vibes from him since we came here, makes sense with that smell..." said Rothgar.

"I thought that was a new cologne of yours," said Fiona.

"Funny. Watch out, I think I see more zombies coming!" shouted Rothgar.

Fiona turned and saw a group of thirty walking corpses stumbling towards them, some were purely skeletons without a trace of flesh. None of them had weapons outside of their unnatural strength, long dirty fingernails and a deadly and infectious bite. The group drew their weapons as Rothgar attempted to scare the dead off again, this time without succeeding. "Reius must be busy elsewhere," Rothgar said before running up to the first zombie and bashing its lower jaw off. The fight was a learning experience for everyone, some people learned that punching and kicking the dead only made it easier for them to grab and bite you, some people learned that swords and knives are as effective against skeletons as they are against stone walls, causing many a warrior to begin bashing the dead with their weapons pummel. Dawn learned what it looked like to break bones and shatter joints without skin hiding the damage from view and took a certain satisfaction in the finesse that she wielded her quarter staff. Grimrose and Markus learned that fire magic was even more effective on the dead. At the end of the nightmare the dead lay on the ground, moving no more, the way most people preferred the dead. Three of the party members had been bitten and would most likely not survive to see the next sunrise. Dawn, Fiona, Grimrose, Janithus, Markus, Rothgar and Dubia.

Dawn saw the young courier who woke her for the past couple of mornings come running from the city, he stopped in front of the group and after catching his breath he told them that the city has restored order for the day, and the party was welcome to come back, there will be another mission in three days time. They headed back to the city, Dubia chatted with everyone, she was clearly a social butterfly until Rothgar grabbed her by the collar and hoisted her in the air, eye level to the tall man. "Stealing ain't cool, I saw your hand slide into Markus's pocket, and I saw you snerch Janithus's tin whistle this morning. You can give those back and apologise now and we'll forgive you. If you do it again nobody will help you in the next battle we get into," Rothgar said. The gnome looked mortified and crumpled to the ground sobbing profusely. She apologized to everyone, including those she hadn't stolen from before returning everything she took, including a Saint Medallion from Rothgar. She claimed that she sometimes didn't realise that she was stealing and she would do her best to not take from any of them again.

Chapter 11: Thicker than blood

When they arrived at the Inn a pair of guards was waiting with a large heavy trunk, the trunk bore the seal of Ryelef's Treasury department. The Guards opened the trunk and handed out the party's pay for the mission to the farms and half pay for going to potters field, explaining that the other half of their pay would be used to pay for replacement of the gates and burial costs for the dead guards. "We guards take this stuff serious you know, you folks might be facing civil suits from the families of the guards what died cause you were out cavorting and the like with them farmies," said one guard after the pay was distributed. The guards also kept track of who didn't return, asking if they had died or run off, if the party told them the person had died the guards replied that someone would look for the body to confirm the story, and if no body was found an arrest warrant would be issued for the missing person. The guards told the party that no proof had been found of Derk's death and he was being sought, any information of his location could lead to a reward, like not being sent to the gallows for helping him run off. The guards escorted all the party members who had been bitten to what they called the special treatment facility, every one of them knew they'd most likely be given a poison and have their heads lopped off once they lost consciousness. The guards soon left and the party began ordering dinner and drinks from the innkeeper. There was no song or dance that night, just a lot of grumbling over the situation.

Dawn sat at a table alone, Janithus was on the back porch of the Inn, practising his tin whistle where it would not disturb the grumpy warriors. Markus and Grimrose each enjoyed a bowl of the house soup and a bottle of house wine to share before heading off to bed. Dubia followed Janithus out to the back, sitting on the ground and listening to him play. Fiona sat down next to Dawn and looked at her before saying "Listen to me. I'm not making any assumptions on your life but you need to be prepared, and I suspect that you'll be enjoying male attention soon, so this is for you," Fiona handed her a leather bag under the table. "It's a powdered mix of herbs that would keep you from being with child. You'll need to measure out one half a spoonful each morning after having been with a man, mix it into hot water and drink it once it cooled to a safe temperature. It might make you throw up and bleed from below more often but that was the price of laying with men," said Fiona. "Wow, thank you. This must be what it's like to have a big sister. Um, what are squid heads?" Dawn asked.

"They're pretty tall, look kinda like skinny men with a pale tannish white squid where there head should be. They have tentacles along the chin and beaks for mouths, they will use their tentacles to inject poison into whatever they grab and will tear open a persons, pulling flesh and bone apart to eat the organs inside, they really love to eat brains. There eyes are on the sides of their head but are big enough to see everything around them. Some people say that they breed by placing one of their offspring on the head of someone they captured and others say they are born the way they are, I don't know. I only know that they are one of the most dangerous things you will find on two legs. They are rumoured to have psychic powers and are said to be able to read minds, cause someone to see stuff that might not be there, and can take control of someone's mind," Fiona said. The two women ate dinner together, with Dawn asking Fiona about other beings of the world, they shared a Rusty Crow special, which was a bird that didn't taste like chicken. It had been soaked in rot-gut whiskey and then rolled in a thick coating of spices before cooking in a cast iron pot till the skin was blackened. It was served with sea greens, which were apparently a leafy plant that grew on ropes underwater, and beans that had been intentionally left to go slightly off, giving them a sticky texture and a very strong scent. Dawn and Fiona both decided they didn't like it and wouldn't be ordering that again. They then shared a bottle of wine and talked for a while, mostly about combat technique and what they could have done better against the goblins and the undead. Fiona looked to Dawn. "I have very few memories of family but I like the idea of being your big sister. You're the only living person outside the wizard that turned me into a bear to know about that. This is going to sound weird but I kinda feel like your family and I'd like to keep travelling with you even after this contact shows up. You don't have to pay me, just feed me. I don't know what Rothgar plans outside of fondling every maiden he finds, you'd have to talk to him if you want him. He's a pretty good bandage. I'm sure it would take several giants with chains to pry Janithus away from you and the magic boys will go wherever Janithus goes. I don't know about the gnome and I really don't care at this point," said Fiona.

"I've never had real family so I don't know exactly what its like, but I like what we have. I kinda do want to keep Rothgar around, I don't know why but it feels right. I agree on Janithus, he's fun but even if we stay together for a while I don't see a wedding in his future. The magic boys definitely will follow him but they are family too. I'd kinda like to have the Dubia around, I think she could be useful for her size and her, um, dexterous, hands. I think Rothgar can keep her under control," said Fiona. Fiona and Dawn each went to bed shortly after, waking up at a decent hour without a knock on their doors.

When Dawn came downstairs Fiona had already gone out to the market and Rothgar had gone to a shrine to pray. Janithus and Dubia were playing a card game with some of the locals, Dawn was quite sure that everyone at the table was cheating in some way. Dawn had her breakfast, two eggs runny side up, and a cup of hot water for her herbal mixture that Fiona had given her. Janithus and her had not had sex the previous night, they just lay in bed holding one another all night long. The herbal mixture tasted worse than it smelled, and it smelled like a foetid pond that had been frozen all winter and was now thawing to reveal a rotting mess. Dawn walked to one of the local armour shops and inspected their wares. She considered buying a metal breastplate but something about it didn't feel right. A man in a long, dark greed hooded robe walked up to her and said in a deep rumbling voice "metal will never feel right to you because metal never lived. It didn't have a parent and wasn't born into this world, it never grew or consumed," Dawn turned and looked at the hooded figure catching a slight glimpse of his face. She was about to tell him to piss off when he spoke again, this time in a language that she didn't recognize, but understood without knowing why, the consonants sounded like leaves rustling in a tree on a windy spring day and the vowels flowed like water in a bubbling stream. "You were born a Druid. Most Druids have to join and dedicate themselves, praying for initiation when their teachers see wisdom shine forth, but you were born with it. It's very rare but it does happen. I suspect you are untrained. I cannot teach you but I know who can. There's a man North-east of here that you need to meet. His name is Joe and I suspect Luther will be sending you his direction in a few days, assuming you live that long. When you meet him ask him for a country tune, he will find a way to walk out of earshot of anyone but you, he will ask you if you are going to Scarborough fair, the proper response is parsley, rosemary, sage, and thyme. I leave you in peace, may our paths cross again in wisdom," he said before turning and blending into a crowd. Dawn tried following but the spot where he should have been held no one. She went back to the inn passing Rothgar who was giving a public sermon on a street corner. The inn had several books in a book case that were rarely touched, she pulled one out that she didn't recognise the title of and sat at a table near a window, reading while occasionally glancing up to watch the people going by. The afternoon faded to dusk and then the night arrived with hungry people ordering food, more often than not being disappointed with what was being sold as food. She ordered a cup of black tea and after a few moments Grimrose and Markus came over to her. "We are wanting to discuss the future. Grimrose and I, we are enjoying these adventures with you, but life in servitude to that filthy Luther, we are not of the liking. Is your plan to be staying your days here or is it to be going out for a more noble cause?" Markus asked with a very thick Blitzenkraut accent.

Dawn looked up to the two men while closing her book and finished off her tea, before speaking with a fake leadership swagger in her voice. "Noble is a good word for my goals, Gentlemen. I am not going to go into too many details around here, but I am waiting for someone who will lead me elsewhere. I need experienced individuals to go with me and fight a great evil, take gold from our enemies, and try to have a good laugh. You sound willing. I can't guarantee any pay other than what we can find, but I will make sure we are all fed and have something to drink, I also believe in sharing everything equally, and you two are definitely welcome anywhere I go,"

Grimrose looked to Markus and said something in a language that Dawn didn't recognize, it was more guttural and filled with plosive sounds than the barbarian languages of Skvoja, she suspected it was Orcish. Markus replied in the same language and Grimrose nodded his head once before offering his hand to Dawn. Dawn looked at his hand and then to Markus, who made a gesture of clasping hands at her. She took Grimrose's massive bear paw sized hand in her own and he twisted her wrist in a powerful yet non painful manner, pressing his forearm to hers before thumping his other hand, clenched in a fist against his chest loudly enough for the whole bar to look up at what was going on. Markus had a slightly shocked look to his face and said "He has just declared himself brother to you if you are willing to accept him. It is stronger than a declaration of love or marriage and I pray that you do accept him because if you do not his only choice will be to end his own life,".

"What do I need to do to accept him?" she asked.

"Nod your head like he did and then thump your chest like he did. Then you must share the orc beer," Markus said.

Dawn, still holding Grimrose's massive hand, nodded her head once before loudly and painfully thumping her own chest. They released hands and she ordered two orc beers, a brew commonly called goblin bile. It arrived in two steel and heavily dented tankards with a yellowish foam on the top. The brew was black and thick, with the smell of wood stain, tar, and onions. They both clanked tankards together in a toast before chugging the vile brew. Dawn found that this wasn't just a beer, it was a syrupy distilled spirit, and not meant to be drunk by someone of her size, species, or at that speed. She was left drunker than she had ever been. Grimrose and Markus smiled at her and stood, wandering off. Dawn stood up and went to the small stage area that performers would be in and began singing the bawdiest tunes she knew and attempting to recite poetry from her rear. She passed out while mooning the audience after giving up on getting intelligible sounds to come out. Janithus carried her up to their room and put her to bed. Fiona asked around as to what happened and had a few choice words about following archaic bonding rituals for Grimrose and Markus, but knew that Dawn would be all right by morning and the group would probably be stronger from this.

Chapter 12: A Saint's Revenge

Late that night, near closing time an old and wrinkled man came in. He was powerfully built but time and the warriors life style had not been kind to him, his heavy scarification a testament to what he had survived. He had faded blue woad tattoos on the neck common of the barbarian tribes of Truk but wore the sigil of Saint Boric, God of Retribution. The only men who wore that sigil and survived were paladins, this had to be Cedric. Fiona stood up and walked to the man, introducing herself as Fiona McCoul, business associate to the late James Kingsman. She knew that wasn't his real name but hoped the contact would be familiar with what he was calling himself. Cedric looked her up and down and said "I suppose you want your pay so you can be off to the next job? Well, I'll need to see the girl first, that was Ger-ah, James's instructions to me,"

"She's passed out in her room, Orc bonding ritual, I'm pretty sure you've seen them. I'll take you up there if you want, but you'll need to talk to her in the morning before heading out. She's made friends that she wants to take with, me included,"

"Friends you say? Darling, I've had over a hundred and fifty years of experience on you that's taught me a mercenaries friends are gold and weapons, not people. Don't try pulling the wool over my eyes sweetheart, they've called me many names in my days, but never Cedric the fool," he said as he headed up the stairs. Fiona lead him to Dawns room and opened the door, revealing a sleeping young woman who had vomited twice onto the floor. Cedric sniffed the air and said, "yep, Orc beer, smells like a decent vintage, probably an 82 or an 83, back when they still used hobgoblin stomachs to store it during fermentation. Since I don't want to deal with her puke at the moment I'll wait till the morning as you asked but the girl and I are leaving without your assistance, so don't think of getting between me and my mission, they've never called me Cedric the failure," he said before going downstairs to rent a room for the night.

Dawn woke to find Janithus curled up next to her but fully clothed, which was unusual for him, the man couldn't stand clothes and would go naked whenever possible, even without sexual intentions. Fiona sat in a chair in the room facing the door, Rothgar next to her. Markus and Grimrose lay in the second bed that theoretically was for Janithus which he didn't use. Dubia was laying on the floor, her whole body resting on a spare pillow. Someone had draped a sheet over her and a towel over Dawn's vomit, she remembered waking up just enough to not barf on the bed. The sound of birds singing in the morning and the early sunrise were painful but she knew she'd feel better with a little water, maybe steeped with some willow bark. She started getting up and realized that she had greatly underestimated the level of her hangover. Her world was whirled in front of her eyes and she went down with a thud, Fiona and Rothgar jumping out of their chairs and drawing steel at the sound. Markus and Grimrose woke slowly and congratulated Dawn on surviving, by the look of Grimrose he was wishing that he hadn't survived. Grimrose hadn't puked as much as Dawn but his hangover was on the same level as hers, Markus mentioned later that day that Grimrose is a lightweight for a half-orc. With everyone awake except Dubia, Fiona explained that Cedric had arrived last night but wanted to be the only one leaving with Dawn, and they had felt the need to guard her during the night, just in case he grabbed her and ran. Rothgar cast an anti poison spell on Dawn and Grimrose which eased their illness a great deal. Dawn then shooed everyone from the room including Janithus so she could wash herself and change clothes. The inn provided a pitcher of water and a wash basin to every room, and changed out the water at least once a week. Dawn came out a few minutes later and they went downstairs as a group, Cedric sat at a table, his back to a wall, staring at the party while smoking a pipe. He chuckled at their arrival before saying "You're so desperate to protect your meal ticket that you arrive all together like this? I'd rather not have to but I will kill every one of you sons of bitches if I need to, and don't think I can't. Never been called Cedric the weakling"

"CEDRIC!" shouted Dawn "I don't care what deal you made with Gerald, these folks are with me. Each and every one of them has saved my arse on more than one occasion, and I have enough gold to finance them if they ask, which they haven't. Now, I'm giving you a choice you filthy curmudgeon, you can come with us or you can leave without me. I'll be dead by my own hand and the stone tossed into the bay before I let you take me without them, you got it, jack wagon?" Dawn said at full volume, staring the old man straight in the eye.

"Wow, you really are his daughter. I didn't know balls could be handed from father to daughter, but you wear Franc's sack all right. He's the only man that I ever let order me around, and that was only cause he beat me to a bloody pulp in a fight where I had all the advantages. I don't take kindly to my sage advice being ignored, especially by a pipsqueak that I could of been great grandfather to, but I'll think about it. Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta meet some high and mighty city official from the treasury department," he said as he stood up and headed for the door.

After a few hours Cedric returned, griping that this whole job was Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition. He had met with Luther Fiske and forcibly recruited along with three other new arrivals. Cedric initially turned Fiske down with a rude hand gesture before fighting with fifteen of the cities finest guards. Cedric was told by Fiske that he would be in a mission starting tomorrow morning and if he tried to leave town outside of mission parameters for the next ten days he'd be hunted down by the elite guards. He talked to Dawn for a while, telling her stories of her fathers glory and stories about how trusting mercenaries would give one a sharp blade to the belly and an empty coin purse.

Cedric drank steadily through the afternoon and evening, indulging in one of Ryelef's biggest export, the distilled spirit made of a combination of maze, malted barley, and rye, a grain only found in the fields around Ryelef and giving the city its name. The fermented liquid was then filtered through several feet of charcoal made from local sugar maple trees. The finished product was stored in great oak barrels for three years before being sold to the public. By the end of the night the old man was quite drunk and sharing his past. He claimed to have gone on a great adventure and competed as a gladiator, and to have travelled to the far east, dying at the hands of a beautiful concubine. He claimed that he was resurrected by a god of retribution so he could atone for his wickedness in his former life and had served the Royal Court of Neul Chianogos. He stopped telling his tales for a few minutes and looked ready for bed and the hangover that would follow in the morning, stood up and headed for the stairs, stopping with one foot on the first step, turning to address all who listened.

"I was a great man once. I built three barns by myself in one season , but did they call me Cedric the barn raiser? No! I hauled stones from the quarry and built a great stone dam to keep my city from being flooded, but do they call me Cedric the dam builder? NO! I managed to fight off a dragon while the bravest turned and ran, but was I called Cedric the Dragon Slayer? HELL NO! But you fuck one goat..." he stammered before he fell over drunk. Grimrose and Markus helped Cedric to his feet and up the stairs to his room, depositing him in his bed with a thud.

Chapter 13: On the wings of a cat

The next morning Dawn stood in the doorway of her room as Mr. Fiske's messenger arrived. Fiona, Rothgar, and the rest including Cedric were all standing in their doorways waiting on the gangly youth. Dawn smiled at him and said "Good morning toe headed child. What gate this time?" He stopped and stared for a moment before returning her smile and replied with South Eastern, then turned and walked out, his duties being completed ahead of schedule. Dawn went back to her bed and gently shook Janithus until he woke, saying to him "Good morning snuggle bug. Fiske wants us at the south eastern gate." in an adoring tone. "Please, don't ever say snuggle and Fiske in the same hour. Let me get my pants on," The went downstairs and each had a cup of the goat bean juice before shambling out into the pre dawn streets of Ryelef. The three new guys, who, for unknown reasons were all wearing identical long sleeved red shirts, each with a long flowing golden sash for a belt and an odd golden triangular badge on their left pectoral, they followed the party without objection. Outside of the capitol district, which was laid out as a neat sixteen spoked wheel the streets of Ryelef were a chaotic maze of twists and turns. Getting lost in this city was pretty easy but the group had learned the streets, mostly through trial and error as well as most of the natives. They did take one wrong turn that morning that lead them past the cities gallows where three men dangled, they each had a sign stating their crime dangling from their necks, the first one who looked skinny for his height wore a sign that said _Stole Bread_. The next one wore a sign that said _Spy_ and Dawn knew his face from somewhere, she realized that it was the mysterious man from the armour shop that was dangling there as a spy. The third was a woman that she had heard of, she was famous in the slums of Ryelef because she would heal any injury or sickness that was presented before her. She was also very vocal in her criticism of the government not doing anything for the elderly and destitute, she wore two signs, one read Unlawful Magic and the other sign said aberrant deviant. They found the gate to the south-eastern road and saw Mr. Fiske standing with his guards, his normal rictus grin plastered on his death mask like face. He looked at the group and everyone including the new guys said in unison, "Good of you to join us" before Fiske had a chance to. Fiske continued his smile although he began pacing like a stalking cougar that had just been kicked by a cornered and wounded fawn.

"Today's journey will be down a road that is a bit of a mystery even to me. About three quarters of a mile past this gate is another gate. On the door is an image of a winged cat, and written in several tongues is the word knowledge. Past that gate is a maze made of stone. I regret that I cannot give you a map of the maze, as no one has successfully traversed it and returned. What I do know is the following: the walls within occasionally shift, there are apparently some creatures living inside the maze and there is rumour of a great treasure at the end. There is also rumour of something powerful guarding that treasure. The cities ruling elite desire that I discover what lies at the centre of the maze, and unfortunately that means you must be the ones to investigate. This has nothing to do with your failure to protect the city from the undead army from potter's field," Fiske said with the grin of a hangman. He turned and walked back through the gate, his guards backed their way in and shut the gate.

The party began walking down the road, Rothgar on point. Cedric tried to get as close as he could to Dawn without climbing her shoulders but there was constantly someone in the way, whether it was Fiona to Dawns left or Janithus to her right, Markus in front of her and Grimrose directly behind her, and that damned Gnome Dubia buzzing around Dawn like a bee around the first bloom of the season, weaving between peoples legs, Cedric was completely Dawn blocked. In irritation he stepped on the leg of Dubia, knocking her down and almost squishing her under his massive boot, her response was to climb him like a tree and box him on both ears and jump down before he could do anything about it. She spent most of the rest of the walk alternating between rubbing her leg and giving Cedric rude hand gestures. The road was liked with tall pine trees and dark in spite of the daylight forest. In a few minutes they arrived at the curving stone wall of the maze, its gate closed and waiting to be opened. Rothgar and Dubia walked up to it and looked at the door, Rothgar looking for traces of magic, Dubia looking for any traps. Rothgar opened the door and walked in, the rest of the party following him. They walked in and after the last of the group had entered the door simply vanished, the space where it had been was now solid wall, a message appeared on the wall that looked to have been written in blood. It said_ I will set you free only after you have made your way to the centre._ The party saw a doorway a few feet to the left of the gate. There was a long stretch of unbroken, curving corridor to the left and to the right. The party decided to first head down the corridor directly to the left. After fifty yards a pair of creatures came around the bend. They looked like the bastard love children of goblins and bears, they were hairy like bears with angry goblin faces, they stood an easy eight feet tall, . They had massive paws but unlike bears they had useful thumbs and walked upright with no problem. They each had armour on and one held an axe in one paw that a human would need two hands to wield. The second hat a large curved sword with a long chain dragging from its hilt. They both stopped when they saw the group and one of the creatures shouted "FRESH MEAT!" before they both started running toward the party. Cedric was the first to meet the monsters, his war-hammer clanging off of the axe that was swinging towards him. Dawn banged her quarterstaff against the side of the knee of the sword wielding monster but its only reaction was to smile at her. It slashed towards her head but the massive movement of the sword required enough time that Dawn had no problem dodging the blow. Dubia drove a dagger directly into the top of the foot of one of the beasts, slicing through both top and bottom of its boot, pinning it in place for a moment before Dubia yanked it out. A stream of blood erupted from the hole the dagger had been in, and the one creature began hopping around, clutching its foot between its massive paws. It dropped its sword in the process and tripped over its own blade, falling with a loud thud on the ground. Dubia seized the moment and sliced through the tendons that ran up from the heels of the beast, making sure it would never walk upright again. She then lunged for its throat and blood soon erupted from each side of its neck, the monster fell forward and did not move again. The other creature was still trading blows with Cedric, neither one had hit anything outside of the others weapon. Somewhere in the back of Cedric's mind he heard Fiona shout very clearly through the sounds of battle "Cedric, duck!" and he dropped down to a squatting position. A moment later an arrow streaked past where his head had been and buried itself in the eye socket of the creature. It howled in pain from that and stopped howling a moment later, when Cedric drove his war-hammer straight up between the spread legs of the massive being, shattering its hopes of ever being a parent. It fell down to the ground and Cedric then smacked the end of the arrow with his hammer, driving it through the skull and out the other side. The goblin-bear stopped breathing after a few moments. He stood up and the whole party heard words reverberate through the entire maze, words that said _go back to the right, take the first left. For every left there is a right and for every right there is a wrong._

They went back to where they started and took that first door to the left which then sealed itself closed after they past through, there was corridor to the left and to the right, with another doorway a few feet away to the right leading them one wall closer to the centre. They took that doorway and it then sealed behind the last of the party. Ahead of them was a wall with a corridor to the right, to their left was another long corridor. The sounds of creatures could be heard to both the right and left. They chose to take the path to the right, forward meant going around a bend that took them closer to one wall and then away from that wall, the next corner brought them face to face with a group of five ants, each of them were a little over six foot long. The ants were a shiny black in colour and had long pinching jaws. Each one had a stinger on its tail and turned in unison towards the group as they came around the corner. Antennae started waving at the party and quickly walked towards the group, pinchers snapping together with menace.

One of the new guys, a long haired man named Bradley rushed toward the ant longsword held high over his head. Bradley brought the sword down on the head of the ant and the sharp edge of his blade bounced off as if it had struck a great boulder. The ant grabbed Bradley around the waist with its pinchers and began squeezing. The sound of ribs snapping under Bradley's skin could be heard several feet away. The ant dropped Bradley to the ground, in a crumpled heap. Cedric ran up and smacked one of the pinchers right off the ant before grabbing an antennae and yanking it off. The ant became confused and started marching in a circle.

Brian, another new guy, struck an ant with his halberd, managing to slice through one of the ants legs. The ant replied to his attack by charging but Brian managed to dodge the ants strike. Two of the other ants both snapped a Markus but he jumped at just the right time to dodge them both, the pair of ants jaws accidentally locking together. Angered at the double attack on his love Grimrose fired a massive fireball cooking both ants in their armoured skin. Markus shot magic arrows at the three surviving ants, two of them being hit in the head, the third ant just barely missing the glowing projectile. The two ants that were hit had a hole going into them that was leaking fluid, but they weren't dead and each charged in a different direction. One ant smashed into Brandon, the last of the new guys, knocking him off his feet. The ant then climbed on top of him before stabbing him in the chest with its stinger. The ant walked off and headed for a new target while Brandon screamed and writhed in pain, his chest dissolving before his eyes. Rothgar ran up to one of the ants that had been hit with a magic arrow and planted his mace directly into the oozing hole, creating a crater in the ants head. The beast fell dead at Rothgar's feet.

Dawn took a swing with her quarterstaff at the antennae of the other ant with a smoking hole in its head. She knocked both off at once, cutting off one of the ants senses. Now both of the surviving ants were partially blinded. Fiona was about to fire her bow at the circling ant but her bowstring snapped. She squatted and changed the string and as she was about to stand up, arrow already loaded the ant without antenna charged straight ahead, knocking her down. Dubia saw that the ant was about to mount and sting Fiona and charged in, sliding along the ground, knocking Fiona out of the spot she was laying dazed in. The ant stung Dubia straight in the head, she died before she had time to feel the pain acid melting her body. Fiona had just enough time to recover, stand and fire at point blank range into one of the ant's eyes, the arrow coming out the other eye before impaling into the last surviving ant, dropping it immediately. Once again a voiced reverberated through the maze. _Go backward in reverse until the end is dead. Turn right, turn right, don't turn right, then do, then don't. Expect the __unexpected before facing what goes bump in the night_.

The party mourned the loss of all who had fallen and wished they could take their remains out for proper burial, unfortunately not enough of Dubia or one of the new guys remained for burial. Janithus wept openly at the death of his small friend. Janithus took a deep breath and then said "We have to continue the mission. I think I understand it. Go backward in reverse would mean go forward, so lets head straight ahead," and then began walking forward. The rest of the group followed him looking over their shoulders at every intersection. They arrived at a point where going straight ahead would be a dead end, but there was a turn to the right open to them. They followed the turn to the right down another corridor, taking a left and then a right before hearing the whinny of a horse, only with an undertone that sounded like the screaming of a chorus of demons. Coming around a corner was a jet black horse that had fire instead of a mane, flames came from its nose and hooves, smoke billowing from its mouth. Its eyes glowed with a malevolence that was beyond simply having red eyes. Grimrose was the first to act, wiggling his hands in an arcane gesture and speaking mystical words as a storm of ice and hail erupted from in front of him, smashing into the evil steed. Fiona fired an arrow that struck the shoulder of the horse, causing a cry of pain. Brian ran to the horse and sliced through the rib cage. Cedric was the next to take a swing at the evil equine, unfortunately he slipped on a patch of ice, and fell on his butt, his war-hammer popping out of his hand and smacking him in the face, knocking the man unconscious. Rothgar charged in but in an attempt to not repeat Cedric's mistake Rothgar charged in at a slower speed, swinging with caution and missing the beast completely. Dawn came at the horse swinging, hitting it in one of its legs. The beasts leg hurt but not broken from the impact. The beast reared up and attempted to hit Dawn with the undamaged leg, but the kick only glanced off her shoulder. Janithus pulled a short sword and slashed at the whithers of the monster, slicing into part of its muscle. Markus summoned a magic floating sword which immediately flew after the stead, slashing at its powerful neck, blood spilled on the snowy floor. Cedric came back to consciousness, wiped blood from his nose, grabbed his hammer and swung up from a crouched position smashing into the ribcage of the creature, pushing two separate ribs out of the skin on one side. The nightmarish horse fell to the ground gasping for breath. Dawn smacked it in the mussel with her quarterstaff, forcing a tooth to shoot down the hall. The horse stood up after a moment and Grimrose's attack with a lightning bolt struck in the creatures chest searing its flesh. Rothgar's mace smacked the creature in the shoulder, knocking it off its feet once again. Fiona finished the creature off , an arrow flying straight into the neck of the horse, disappearing into its frame. The horse reared one last time, striking at Brian as he came a foot too close, the tip of its hoof stopping half an inch from the bridge of Brian's nose. Brian fell to the floor trying to not get hit, and the dying horse fell on him crushing the man to death under its weight. Again a voice reverberated through the maze, _straight for many a foot, pass the the turn to the right thrice going around nine corners before drawing steel again_.

They followed the directions of the voice, praying that it would not lead to a trap, finally turning the last corner and coming face to face with a badger. The group was underwhelmed at the next opponent. Dawn looked it straight in the eyes and banged the end of her staff on the ground, she made noises at it which sounded like grunts to everyone but it looked with understanding at her, sitting in rapt attention. It grunted several times back at her before she said aloud "it won't attack, it doesn't want to be here, and it wants to follow us hoping to find a way out," Cedric shook his head and said "yep, definitely a druid. I heard about a crazy druid once that not only talked to badgers but felt the need to dress them in frilly pink skirts and dance with them too," A giggle reverberated through the maze. _Right and left, right and left before you meet me in person. Draw weapons before that first left_. They followed the directions to the letter, coming up to a group of three skeletons. At the sight of the skeletons Cedric and Rothgar ran up with their weapons raised. As each of them landed a shattering blow to two of the skeletons an arrow flew between the two men, breaking first the sternum and then the spine of the last skeleton. The party continued on coming into a final room with a single solitary sphinx sitting in the centre.

"Away, away I say with your weapons, you have no need for them now. My name is Imhotep. I was named for a brilliant man of ages past, and I am your final challenge. I will ask you three riddles. If you get them all right you will be given a great prize and instant transport out of this maze. If you get at least half of the riddles right you will be allowed out but with no grand prize. If you should fail to get at least half right, I shall have to test you in a much more physical manner, the prize being survival. I will insist on only one of your group presenting the groups answer to my riddle, but you are welcome to discuss amongst yourself. Please choose your presenter while I partake of a divine lunch called the cheeseburger." a gigantic tray of sandwiches popped out of nowhere, they gave off a cloud of onion and beef scented steam. To make a tray of sandwiches that large would require the meat of at least two cows, each sandwich had a slice of yellow cheese, pickles and ketchup peeked from the edges . The Sphinx began devouring the large feast with great joy.

The party looked at each other, Janithus volunteering to be the presenter of the answers. The bard awaited the grand cat to finish its meal and began cleaning its paws before Janithus stepped forward, bowing with deep respect before speaking "Great sir, I will be presenting the response for this humble group. I delight in the opportunity for a brilliant mind such as yours to test us,"  
The great Sphinx seemed slightly puffed up with the complimentary words and said in a proud voice

"Then let us begin, It is important to listen very closely before deciding on an answer, your first riddle is as follows:

A horse is tied to a 15 ft. rope and there is a bale of hay 25 ft. away from him. Yet the horse is able to eat from the bail of hay. How is this possible?"

Janithus returned to the group and Rothgar said "This is an easy one. The other end of the rope ain't tied to anything," The rest of the party thought for a moment before agreeing with that answer.

Janithus stepped toward the sphinx, saying "Our response to your riddle is that the other end of the rope isn't tied to anything"

"CORRECT!" shouted the Sphinx with a prideful smile. "Next riddle: What comes next in the this series: O, T, T, E, E, S, S?"

Janithus returned to the group and they all stood wide eyed and frightened for a moment. Grimrose looked to Markus and spoke to him in Orcish. Markus looked to Grimrose and asked "are your sure?" to which Grimrose nodded vigorously. "He says its an E, it's the first letter of the common language word for each of the first eight numbers, E for eight comes after O for one, T for Two, T for Three, F for Four, F for Five, S for Six, S for Seven and then E for Eight. Ya?" the group thought for a moment before nodding their heads in agreement. Janithus then walked back to face the Sphinx, saying "Our response, is the letter E,"

The Sphinx's eyes lit up with joy as it shouted "CORRECT! Your next riddle is as follows:

While exploring the wild highlands, Crazy Drew McIntyre was captured by hostile wood fairies. Smazze, the powerful chief of the fairies told him he could make one final statement which would determine how he would die. If the statement he made was false, he would be boiled in water. If the statement were true, he would be fried in oil. Crazy Drew found neither of this options to his liking, so he made a statement that saved him from this seemingly impossible situation. What is the one statement he could make to save himself?"

Janithus refused to smile although he knew the answer to this, it was a story he had told in one of his routines. He turned and returned to the group, Dawn smiled brightly and said "you know this one, I've heard you say this one! The response is you will boil me in oil" Janithus nodded, and waited to see if anyone would disagree with that pronouncement before turning back to the Sphinx and answering the riddle correctly.

"You have answered all three of my riddles correctly, and you win both your freedom as well as a grand prize, this great ball of joy" the Sphinx said and suddenly a ball of shiny multi coloured metal threads appeared in front of them. The ball was roughly ten feet in diameter. The party found themselves outside of the maze, badger looking up to Dawn and giant metal ball in front of the group. Dawn smiled at the badger and nodded, it nodded back at her before turning and disappearing into the forest. The walls of the maze glowed brightly for a moment before disappearing completely, the only sign that the maze had ever been there were scorch marks on the ground outlining the walls. The Sphinx looked from the centre of the maze to the smile and said "Good Day" before flying off into the evening sky. The bodies of all who had died in the party lay neatly where they had fallen, restored to original condition but still dead.

Fiona lifted the dead Brandon, Grimrose hoisted Brian's corpse over his shoulders, Janithus carried the small body of Dubia, and Markus carried the fallen Bradley. Cedric and Rothgar each grabbed a side of the ball, picking it up and heading back to the gateway to Ryelef. They noticed that if the started walking closer to each other the ball would contract, and they managed to get it down to just one foot in diameter. Luther met them at the gate looking at the ball with disdain. He said "don't bring that piece of garbage into MY city" before turning and heading off to the capitol. The guards passed out bags of pay and then Rothgar turned and looked to the rest of the group before saying "A lot of good people died for this stupid ball of metal, we're bringing it with us as far as the inn at least, and if I have a chance I'm jamming it straight up Fiske's rear," The guards looked to the group for a moment before saying "we'll take care of your friends burial. That metal ball thing is none of our business, Fiske ain't paying us enough to tangle with anyone what could outwit a Sphinx, and as much as he wants it the city ain't his". The party walked back to the Inn for the night, it had been a very long day for them, they each had a bowl of the house stew, a vegetable and beef stew before they took turns magically healing one another and sleep.

Chapter 14: where there's wood, there's a happy druid.

In the morning darkness, before the roosters had a chance to sing forth to the world that they were ready to breed, eat, and fight there was a knock on the door to Dawns room. She opened one eye and said as loudly as her weary mouth could "Go Away and tell Fiske he can piss off" which received a response of "North-eastern Gate". She could hear knocking on the other doors and it seemed that the rest of the party was just as displeased to get another summons from Fiske but they all did eventually drag themselves out of bed and down the streets to the North-eastern gate. They arrived and found Fiske and his guards waiting at the gate.

Fiske smiled brightly to the party before saying "Good of you to join us. I am truly glad you survived the trip through the Maze. Today's journey is a simple matter of insuring peace simply by being present to help protect our lumber workers, nothing that you could screw up like past missions. A few years ago a deal was stuck with representatives from the nearby forest where we would be allowed the harvest lumber of the trees without killing off every dirt smoking, squirrel loving, nature spirit, cultist yokel in the forest. Personally I still believe we would have been better off just wiping them all out, but in the business of governance one must always listen to the will of the people We have been faithful to this agreement and wish to continue honouring it. Unfortunately, some of the native nature spirits, lead by a Nymph named Bud have been resisting our efforts and I believe the Forestry workers are being...mismanaged, by their foreman, a guy named Joseph. Axes, Chains, and other equipment has been destroyed during the night, protests have been organized, there have been threats of violence and they've even done a fund-raising bake sale to protest the aforementioned agreement. We are sending you to show that we will protect our forestry industry and the workers of that business from all threats, both external and internal. Their base camp is a 5 mile walk from the gate, we do not expect any actual trouble, but if you are attacked, bring me the head of the Nymph, and if Joseph happens to die as well, it will be no big loss" Fiske smiles, turns and leaves. The city gates closed behind him.

The land around them was covered in trees, but none more than ten years old. No old growth could be seen along the entire stretch of the road from Ryelef to the camp. The party set off walking in the early morning, Dawn regretted not taking a moment to have a cup of goat bean juice, from the looks of the party everyone could have used a cup. After a few moments there was a rustle in a pile of leaves nearby and a badger emerged, the same badger that had followed them from the maze. It walked over to Dawn and rubbed its forehead on her leg before following her the rest of the way. Dawn decided that the badger had a regal manner and appearance and asked him if he had a name. His reply was Cub of the King, so Dawn called him Prince, she told the rest of the party this and everyone in the party except for Cedric replied with "Hello Prince the Badger" Cedric's only response was to shake his head and mutter "what is it with druids?". It was a long five miles but they were soon greeted by the sounds of axes hitting trees and chants of Save the Forest Save your Spirits. Once they were within visual range a tall man with long dark hair and very broad shoulders came over to them. He wore a greenish plaid shirt and brown fabric pants, he had quite a beard and a knitted hat in forest colours, he carried an axe over his shoulders. "You're the people that Fiske sent, eh? Well, everything's been pretty calm so far, don't you know. Names Joseph, but everyone calls me Joe. Most of these guys are my brothers or cousins, its all family work round these parts. I was actually contacted by that Nymph, Bud. She wants to meet me during lunch, I'd kinda like for you guys to be there, just so I don't get ganged up on or anything, you know? It'll be over by that stone table that's set up over there," he said as he pointed to a large circular stone with a naturally smooth and flat top. There were nine more circular stones with smooth flat tops set around it that would make perfect seats. "Well, them trees ain't gonna fall over by themselves so I'd better get back to work. There's a barrel of clean water available if you get thirsty, I recommend that you pick out a tree stump and park your butts for a while," he said as he turned from the group. Dawn looked to Prince and asked him to hang back before she ran up to Joe. He hadn't gotten very far and she said in a hushed tone "Excuse me, but, um, do you know a um, country tune?" Bud looked at her with a wry grin and looked around to see if anyone was listening before singing in a surprisingly high "Are you going to Scarborough fair?" Dawn looked around and said "parsley, rosemary, sage, and thyme"

"Let me guess, you were approached by a mysterious figure in a dark green cloak, right? That was Billy, he's a city Druid, likes to spy on Fiske. I need to assess your abilities, close your eyes, I'm about to cast a bit of magic on you, it won't hurt but it might tingle, all it does it feel you up in a magic way," He stood back and raised his hands before wiggling his fingers at her. Dawn stepped back for a moment to think, she wasn't so sure about being magically groped by a guy with this kind of beard, but she didn't see that it would be a problem, as long as Janithus didn't get jealous and she didn't get pregnant. She stepped closer and closed her eyes and was bathed in a tingling sensation. Bud then said "Okay, you can open your eyes, was it good for you too?" Dawn blushed while thinking _yes, yes it was_.

"Your magic and energy level are pretty strong, stronger than most first year initiates, it looks like you mostly need to be taught a magical vocabulary to focus that power through. Your living off the land skills are off the charts for someone as young as you but you don't seem to have any crafts of your own, just some herb knowledge that is heavily associated with that blonde ranger, I'd say its stuff she taught you pretty recently. Knowing what symbols work with you will be something you have to figure out personally, it's as individual as people wish they were, but once you feel how the magic is done I think you'll have no problem. You'll want to find your own craft, beer, candle, and wine making are all very popular, so is knitting. The only problem I'm seeing is time. I know you have something big to do and don't have a couple of years to hang out here suckling from the teat of my wisdom. There's some things I need to talk about with your whole group and after those events are done I need you to come back here. Your whole party will be welcome, but you need to come back so I can help you get to the next level. Training is going to be a bit of a grind, but if you want to be a Druid, and I assume you wouldn't be here if you didn't, you will need it. I'm gonna have to go back to managing this operation, find a tree stump and park it till lunch." he said before walking off.

Prince was laying at Fiona's feet and she shared an apple with him. Rothgar and Cedric were having a lively and rather heated discussion on the responsibility of clergy in both the battlefield and in the temple. Grimrose and Markus were playing cards and apparently gambling for kisses. Dawn wandered over to Janithus who sat on a stump playing his wooden flute in a very soft melodic sound that inspired a feeling of peace and calm. Dawn sat on the ground next to Janithus and rested her head on his thigh watching what was going on. There were around thirty lumberjacks, five working on chopping down a tree, the rest worked on removing the branches from the trees and connecting the logs to mules to be pulled. There were roughly twenty protesters, some were dryads, some were elves, some were halflings and some were humans, there was even a raccoon and a large eyed squirrel marching around in a circle with a Nymph standing on a large rock in the middle. The Nymph played a set of reed pipes while the protesters circled and chanted. As they marched they shouted slogans that were crudely written on signs made from sacks, slogans like _trees are people too_, _make love not wood_,and _stop the madness_, the protesting squirrel's sign just had an image of an acorn on it, and he squeaked rather than chanting or shouting_._ Each time a tree was about to fall the protesters start shouting louder, jumping up and down while marching in their protest ring, until it does fall, which causes the group to suddenly go completely silent for about a minute, all the protesters lowered their heads for a moment, the squirrel openly weeping while the lumberjacks just keep doing their duty.

A lunch bell rang after a few hours and the Nymph hopped off her rock and led the protesters to the stone table, she was the only one that sat down, the protesters formed a half circle parallel to the table. The lumber workers all came over, led by Joe. Joe was the only one to sit down, sitting directly across from Bud the Nymph. The lumber workers also formed a half circle running parallel to the table. Joe signalled to the party to come over and they did. Several trays of roasted root vegetables and fresh fruit were delivered with a barrel of beer and metal tankards. In spite of the warm and wonderful food smells there was a sense of tension in the air. Joe looked to Bud and said "are you ready?"

"I've never been readier" Bud said as she looked the party over "Okay, the reason we are all gathered here is not what you expect. This protest is actually a ruse, because we needed to get you all here," Joe stood up, walked over to Bud and sat down next to her.

"Joe and I have actually been running the local scene for a while as partners. He's really a druid. All the woodsmen and others you see are part of a commune we created together, we have some really great actors in our little group" Bud said as she rubbed the protesting squirrels head. "We needed to get you here and away from Fiske so because we could tell you what's really going on, in case you hadn't figured it out. First, Fiske is not your friend, and not to be trusted. I don't know what he is, but he ain't human, and he's definitely evil.

"We understand that" said Rothgar "He's one of those brain eating squid head things"

"Oh shit! Those guys never travel alone, that would explain what happened to the city council, they've all been replaced by squid heads. All of these missions that you've been sent on are to either tie up loose ends for business deals he was involved in or shut down operations that help his main rival, Lord Ravenbourne. There's going to be a war soon with Lord Ravenbourne on one side and Fiske on the other. At some point soon Fiske is going to want y'all to spy on Ravenbourne, I'd recommend going up there just to get out of Fiske's reach, but don't join either side, it's bad all around" said Bud.

"Lord Ravenbourne is a local sorcerer, but he's also a cleric, bard, wizard, and a necromancer. He runs a school for witchcraft and haberdashery out of his castle, his students are some of the teenage children of nobles and commoner kids that show aptitude. He's very hospitable to local travellers in spite of the rumours, he's also crazy. If you go up there and ask he'll let you stay at the castle and out of danger. Him and Fiske are about equal in strength, and way above you guys on the danger scale. Me and Bud are kinda hoping that you can watch both, and when the final showdown happens, help us take out whichever one wins the fight. The city can get back to self rule once the evil is tossed. We're pretty sure that in about a week the war will commence and there's going to be a direct fight between Fiske and Ravenbourne, hopefully the survivor will be weak enough that our combined effort will be victorious. We ain't asking you to declare your loyalty here and now, just think about it. Meeting adjourned," said Joe as he grabbed a roasted onion and bit into it. The protesters disbursed into the woods, as well as the lumberjacks, Joe and Bud stood up and walked off hand in hand. The party headed back to the town gates, Fiske was not there but his blonde courier was there with the guards to give the message that Fiske had other business to attend to and they would have a mission tomorrow morning. The guards distributed the party's pay and the group headed back to the Inn. Prince the badger trotted off into the forest.

Dinner was a stew of pork and beans as well as local greens. Dawn took Janithus by the hand and asked him to come talk to her on the back porch. She told him about her conversation with Joe and they discussed the house wine while holding hands. Dawn looked him in the eyes and said "I need to have a serious conversation with you. You mean a lot to me Jani but I don't know how you really feel, I mean we've spent many days and nights together, but are you serious or are we just having fun? I've never been with anyone before you and I don't want to sound like some stupid sappy bint, but I don't want to get hurt either,"

"Well, I was hoping to wait till we were out of this town, but I love you Dawn, and I want to stay with you forever," he said as he reached into one small leather bag, pulling out a ring of silver shaped like a vine with small leaves etched into the sides, there was a diamond embedded in the ring making the surface smooth and less likely for the stone to be lost in a combat situation, the stone was shaped like a heart. Dawn took the ring and it fit perfectly onto the ring finger of her left hand. She leaned in closer to him and they kissed passionately. They went up to bed hand in hand and fell asleep in each others arms later that night.

Chapter 15: Keeping up with the Ravenbourne's

Cedric, Fiona, and Rothgar were awake and sipping their hot goat bean juice in the common room of the inn when the courier arrived. There were stirrings in Markus and Grimrose's room but no one had popped their heads out yet while the Janithus/Dawn suite had had obnoxiously loud sounds of reckless abandon late last night when everyone else was trying to sleep, and was as quiet as a tomb this morning. When the blonde teenage courier arrived the group told him that they'd get Dawn and Janithus up in a bit if he'd tell them which gate it will be.

"Actually today's a bit different. Fiske is still out taking care of business, so he asked me to do the briefing. The mission is through the north gate. The north gate is still torn down and laying next to the gateway where the zombies threw it. You have to head north from the gate to the castle of lord Ravenbourne. Ravenbourne is a powerful magic user and has kidnapped the children of local nobles for a cult he has started. They think he is responsible for the dead rising from the grave several nights ago and marching through town. We don't want you to attack Ravenbourne, just spy on him. Ravenbourne might have the road heavily guarded and we don't know if he'll let you get close to him, especially if he knows where you're from. The road from here to there is tough, it splits in two at one point, both roads circling a mountain that Ravenbourne's castle is built into. The road north of here is called the North Road, it's also called Frost Road. Horses will be waiting for you at the gate and there will be a supply wagon with bed rolls, blankets, rations, ropes, tents, torches and wineskins too. We don't have any good maps of the area to give you cause all the map makers left the city months ago for no reason. Good Luck!" he said as he turned and ran out the door.

"Have we just been sent out on a potentially dangerous spy mission by a pimple faced teenager that wouldn't know what to do with a girl if you gave him a map?" asked Cedric.

"Yep, we have, and there's nothing we can do about it Cedric" said Rothgar.

"I'll get the love birds up" Fiona said as she stood, hoping to not be in the room if the two men started fighting, they were very evenly matched and if they started fighting there was a good chance they'd tear down the whole building and anyone who came in their way. She picked up two semi clean cups and filled them with the goat bean juice before heading upstairs. Markus and Grimrose had just left their room when Fiona arrived at the top of the stairs. "Cedric and Rothgar might be getting into it, can you two keep them from killing each other?" asked Fiona

"Yes ma'am" the boys said as they rushed down stairs. The sound of wrestling and furniture being knocked over could already be heard. Fiona knocked on Dawns door and the door was opened by a very blurry eyed young woman. She was covered only in a wool blanket and was wearing a very ornate and expensive looking ring on the ring finger of her left hand. "Hey Fiona, did we miss the briefing?"

"Yeah but its okay, the briefing was downstairs and Fiske wasn't there. We need to get ready and head out soon though. It's a three day tour" said Fiona. Dawn was yawning and rubbing her eyes, her blanket slipped down a bit more than she was comfortable with.

"A three day tour?" asked Dawn.

"A three day tour. Go get dressed and and wake up your little buddy," said Fiona

"Okay. Oh, hey, can you get some hot water ready for my special tea? Please?" she asked.

"Sure" said Fiona as she headed down the stairs.

She closed the door to the room and walked over to the bed, climbing on top of her lover and kissing him until he was awake enough to kiss back. She stared into his dark green eyes and said "we need to get dress, there's a long mission ahead of us,"  
"What your doing right now is not inspiring me to get out of bed any time soon. Can't we just sneak off today?" Janithus said

"Not without Fiona and Rothgar. They've followed me halfway across the world, and if we left without Cedric I'd give it twelve hours before I had to pick bits of you from between his teeth. Markus and Grimrose would be angry at both of us if..." she was cut off by Janithus's response

"Okay, okay, I'm getting dressed," he said as he did a dexterous flip from a lying position landing on his feet.

They were downstairs in a few minutes, Fiona handed Dawn a cup of hot water and Dawn quickly mixed up her daily birth control, drinking it while it was still hotter than recommended. They all headed out the door and arrived soon at the northern gate, There were five light horses tied to the gate and a wagon with two mules waiting. The group inspected the supplies in the wagon, there was four tents and seven bed rolls, seven thin blankets and five thick ones long enough for sharing. There was enough rations for seven people to eat three meals for a week. There were wineskins and torches, tinder, rope and climbing tools. There was also several winter weight fur cloaks, fur lined boots and fur lined gloves. The group decided that since Dawn had a way with animals she should drive the wagon and Janithus could play some appropriate music. Prince the Badger emerged from the woods and waited next to the wagon, making horses and mules alike very uneasy. The group mounted up and they all started riding north, Dawn picked Prince up gently and sat him next to her. He curled up between Dawn and Janithus and started a rhythmic snoring that Janithus used for a bass rhythm in his music. The sounds melded well and brought smiles to the whole party, even the curmudgeonly Cedric. There was very little conversation, Fiona pointed out what she noticed of the landscape. She was well versed in plants and knew a bit about the weather, but not a whole lot about soil and rocks.

There was a gravel and stone road that lead north, immediately around the city the land was heavily forested but the further they rode the more sparsely populated with greenery the landscape was. There was a fairly gentle incline to the road that led them onto foothills and towards a great mountain range in the distance. The mountains were called the dragons spine and the range ran down to the sea pass known as the dragons revenge and up to the northern waters near the volcanic crater named the burning pit. The area around this pit was a gigantic mining operation that supplied two thirds of the metal used by the peoples of Mouvei. All coins were produced in blank form here before being sent to the capitols of the various countries to have whatever national designs imprinted on them.

After riding a good twenty miles they came upon a covered wagon with a shattered wheel. The man on the wagon was asking for help getting a new wheel onto his wagon and the group stopped to help him as soon as they had dismounted bandits emerged from the covered wagon and the surrounding hillside. The bandits were well armed and were hoping to catch an unsuspecting and inexperienced wagon of treasure. What they did catch was the beating of their lives, in the end they were tied to their horses with a note to the Ryelef city guards saying that they were bandits. Dawn spoke to the horses and told them to stay on the road and head for the city before they were sent galloping off.

The party rode another five miles before setting up camp for the night in a small valley between two protective hills. Dawn cooked dinner, using a recipe she loved. It was a stew made of dried meats chopped finely by Grimrose, dried beans that Markus softening through the use of magic, vegetables that Dawn had Janithus chop, water collected by Rothgar and a large dose of spices were added to the iron pot before it was placed over the fire, the spicy stew was good but caused quite a bit of wind from everyone that night. All four tents were set up and they agreed to set a watch, two people for two hours at a time, no one that would be _distracted_ by the other so Dawn and Janithus couldn't watch together and Grimrose had to be separate from Markus. Rothgar was banned from setting watch with Cedric, Dawn, or Fiona and Cedric refused to do watch with Prince the Badger. In the end Janithus and Rothgar had first watch, Fiona and Markus sat together for second, Dawn, Grimrose, and Prince the Badger watched the third set of two hours, Cedric would have the final two hours and started brewing a fresh pot of goat bean juice. Prince had stayed up with Cedric in spite of the paladin's protest, and once Dawn woke she found that the badger had brought her a pair of freshly killed woodchucks and through a series of grunts told her that it was his tribute to her. She smiled and thanked him before skinning and gutting the woodchucks before skewering them with an extra sword and roasting them over the camp fire and sharing the meal with the whole party. "I'd like to point out that the ground hogs for breakfast were provided by Prince, and it would nice if everyone, including you Cedric, were to thank him,"

"Seriously? You want me to say thank you to an overgrown weasel for dragging in a pair of woodchucks?" asked Cedric

"Yes, Cedric," said Dawn.

"Al right, " he said before walking over to the Badger, squatting down and saying "Thank you very much Prince" Cedric said and sounded like he meant it.

The group broke camp and packed up, heading out once again on the road. The path was steeper here and there was no foliage to speak of, but the number of caves appearing along the sides of the road increased, caves that often had bones littering the ground near their opening. On more than one occasion the party saw the glow of animal eyes staring at them from the caves but the beasts thought better of it once they took a good look at what was passing by.

Around noon they passed three caves that had very old bones but no occupants before coming across one cave with a bold occupant. The creature was a two headed giant each head looking like it was not so distantly related to a dog. The fur on the head on the left was painted blue with woad and the fur on the right was painted red with henna. The monster held a club made from what looked like petrified wood in its right hand and in its left a metal spike stuck through a bone as long as its entire arm. It barked a guttural series of sounds at the party before running at them and swinging. Rothgar and Cedric had just enough time to jump from their horses before the giant's weapons came down on the pair of equines, one shattering the skull while the other weapon went into one side of the horse's ribcage and out the other side. Both animals were instantly dead, the giant tossing their bodies to the entrance of its cave. Fiona shot an arrow into the biceps of its left arm while Grimrose and Markus launched simultaneous lightning bolts into its chest. The Giant staggered for a moment but it roared in challenge at the group before taking a swing at Cedric. Cedric hopped to the left avoiding the first swing and to the right avoiding the second. He then jumped up planting a foot in the elbow of the left arm, took a step up and swatted the giant in the temple with his war-hammer, blood streamed from the left temple of its left head. Cedric then hopped over the stunned left head, bringing his hammer down on the bridge of the nose of the right head. Another jet of blood erupted, this time from the nose of the right head. Cedric then jumped down and smacked the giant in the knee of the right leg on the way down. The unconscious left head unbalanced the beast enough that the knee hit forced it to smack its right head on the ground. Janithus ran up to the creature, circling to stand next to the neck on the right head and stabbed into the carotid artery of its neck. He then ran to the other head, repeating the same strike to the other head. Enough blood flowed from the monster that its life passed within a few minutes. The party left the monster to rot, Cedric and Rothgar riding on the back of the wagon. They completed approximately twenty five miles for the day before finding a secure spot to camp in for the night, dinner tonight was dried rations from the wagon and water. The same watch arrangement as the previous night was agreed upon and another night passed uneventfully. Except for the whole skeleton army thing.

During the third watch Dawn and Grimrose could hear the sounds of movement in the darkness, Dawn asked Prince to run over and wake up Fiona and Rothgar. When they came over to the camp fire and asked what was wrong, Grimrose said "just listen". They listened and could hear what sounded like boots crunching on gravel but no breathing. There was occasionally the metal on metal common to armour but also metal on bone.

"There's something out there, a large group of that something I think, but it doesn't necessarily feel hostile. Grimrose, let's light up the night sky" said Rothgar. The two men faced opposite directions and both cast illumination spells, showing an army of hundreds of skeletons, armed and armoured, standing in a circle around the party. The weapons each held and the armour they had was different from one skeleton to the next, it looked as if a museum of weapons and armour from all across Mouvei had sprung to life, spears that were from the Ugon Tribal Confederacy and being wielded by skeletons wearing armour from Ireie stood next to a Zhinghou style whip wielding skeleton with Neurasian plate mail which was near a skeleton armed with a Sporke fighting tool and wearing the kilt traditionally associated with Caledonie. The only thing they all had in common was a single glowing amulet that looked like a Legion of Honour hero metal. The metal was famous throughout Mouvei and only given to warriors who fell in battle defeating a great evil. One skeleton that had no weapons but did hold a scroll approached the group. He presented it to Rothgar, who read it aloud.

"Dear Submissive Female Dogs of the squid head that calls himself Fiske,

You are formally invited to Lizard Teat's, my school of Witchcraft and Haberdashery for dinner and cocktails, clothing is optional. The skeleton army before you has been ordered to not attack without provocation, it is highly recommended that you do not attack nor should you attempt to chase them off with the use of Divine powers, as that would be rude and as they outnumber you twelve hundred to seven, plus one badger. What is it with Druids and badgers? Any ways, be polite, follow the bone boys up to my place for a good time. Ta Ta for now. Sincerely with love and snoodles, Lord Ravenbourne,"

The party broke camp immediately while the skeletons stood by and waited. The party was herded off into the night. The skeletons had brought a wagon of their own which Cedric, Fiona, Grimrose, and Markus climbed into while Dawn, Janithus, Prince the badger, and Rothgar rode the supply wagon. The surviving horses were now being ridden by the fleshless warriors. They rode through the night, pausing at sunrise, all of the skeletons kneeled and bowed their heads to the rising sun. They were at a fork in the road, a road sign lay on the ground, broken from its post. One side of the sign says fast pass while the other says high road. The road to the left of the party was very straight and stone bridges can be seen along it, passing over a deep ravine. The road to the right curved through the mountains going up a hill. After a full minute the skeletons stood and started marching down the road to the left. As they approached the bridge the group narrowed, only one wagon could cross at a time. The first ravine was quite deep but the slopes of the mountain sides didn't look too steep to Rothgar. He leaned over to Dawn and whispered in her ear. "I'm going to leave the decision on this to you, but we could go down the slope of the mountain next to the next bridge and I guarantee I could brace our fall enough to survive. We'd be out of the skeletons reach and I'm sure that ravine is a road that leads us out of this crap sandwich,"

Dawn thought for a moment and said "if we could get a message to Fiona I'd be willing, but I'm not abandoning them. No, we'll go forward,"

In a few hours they arrived at the outer gate to Lizard Teat's, Lord Ravenbourne's school for Witchcraft and Haberdashery. They dismounted and were met at the door by Lord Ravenbourne himself. The old wizard presented them with a tray of ceramic mugs, each was filled with a brownish sweet smelling liquid with small white puffs of sugar floating on top. The liquid gave off steam in the mountain air. Dawn took one mug and sipped it tentatively.

"It's hot coco, with marshmallows" said Lord Ravenbourne. "come in everyone, you are all welcome here. You will each be provided a room for as long as you wish. You will be free to come and go as you please," Ravenbourne said

"Come and go as we please? Will your skeletal army escort us all the way back to Ryelef?" asked Dawn.

"No no, I am truly sorry about them. You must understand that there is a war coming-" Ravenbourne said before being interrupted by Dawn.

"Between you and Fiske, yeah yeah, we've heard it before. We're kinda caught in between you two and nobody wants to get squished. That doesn't explain the undead chaperones," said Dawn.

"They were to see if there would be an ambush if an opposing force intercepted you. Fiske is dangerous and I couldn't trust him to not send a strike force in the guise of innocents. Now, I believe there has been some question as to whether or not my students are actually captives. You are free to speak with any of the students, in groups or in private, as long as you do not interrupt their studies. If they decline to answer your questions please honour that. If you wish to question me I am available and will allow any spells that would require truth to be used on me. You will be allowed free access to any room in the castle except my personal office as it is a mess and I do not wish to clean it at this time", says Lord Ravenbourne.

The castle consisted of five levels in the main building and had a tower at each of the four cardinal directions. There was also a tower that goes up from the centre of the castle. The castle was made entirely of cut stones, with arched doorways and many stone staircases. The party was shown their rooms and where the bathing chambers, dining hall and the library were. Janithus looked through the library while Cedric took advantage of an unlocked liquor cabinet he had discovered in a closet off from the library. Fiona and Dawn took the opportunity to take baths, the water was perpetually warm and had a froth of soapy bubbles floating on top. It smelled of lavender and jasmine and was the most luxury either of the women had had in a very long time. Prince sat on the floor next to Dawns tub, he sniffed some of the warm, soapy and floral scented water that had spilled out onto the floor, sneezing and shaking his head at it before laying down for a nap. Dawn looked over the side of the tub at the badger "you could use a bath too, you know," she said. Prince looked up at her and growled softly before laying his head back down and snoring.

Rothgar took Ravenbourne up on the interrogation offer and found an empty room that he brought two chairs into plus Ravenbourne. Markus and Grimrose came along to watch the proceedings. Rothgar then cast a spell that created an area that one could not lie in. It was possible to resist or over come the spell, especially if it were cast on a powerful wizard, but Rothgar would have known it immediately if the spell was not working.

"So, you have this army of the dead, did you raise them from the Potter's field cemetery?" asked Rothgar.

"Some of them came from Potters field but not all. I have been trained in necromancy, which is a very dark art. I normally do not use that skill but this I think is a special circumstance. They each wear an amulet that they were buried with, they were warriors from many battles and many nations over many centuries. They were all awarded these metals posthumously, it was my research that discovered these metals had all been made by a necromancer who had plans to raise an army to conquer the world. I admit that I killed him to get his research but I swear that I will only use them defensively. They will not kill anyone who does not provoke them," said Lord Ravenbourne.

"Did you employ the Medusa Alchemist?" asked Rothgar

"Absolutely. She offered to manufacture en masse curative potions at top quality and low price. I might be crazy but I won't pass up a good deal when I see it. My own school couldn't produce the potion of that quality and price at her time table," said Lord Ravenbourne

"Do you know why Fiske is collecting magical items?" Markus asked

"I have heard rumour of a wealthy cabal of wizards that are desperately searching for items from the Royal repository of Neul Chianogos. The repository was completely emptied prior to the fall of the Royal family, making any magic item that may have come from there very valuable to certain collectors. My informants suggest that Fiske is connected to the Cabal by purely financial ties rather than being a member," said Lord Ravenbourne

Lord Ravenbourne said finally "The squid heads are causing Ryelef to slowly sink into an underground lake and within a few years it will be given over to a colony of hybrid fish-frog men who are loyal to the squid heads. Every citizen in Ryelef will be given over as a sacrifice to the evil god of the seas, Cratholu, father of the Krakens,"

"Okay, so you're doing this for the good of humanity, with no personal interests in it. Not revenge in any way against Fiske because of something he did with a wizarding community near by, right?" asked Rothgar, remembering the parchment carried by the goblin chief.

Ravenbourne looked to Rothgar with fear and tried to speak, but the words stuck in his throat, it was obvious that a nerve had been struck. Rothgar could feel anger flowing from the wizard. Lord Ravenbourne finally managed to say "I...do not want to talk about that, but I would be lying to say that the desire for revenge did not live in my heart," the wizard then turned and left the room and was not seen for the rest of the day.

The party did talk to students and learned that even under the strongest anti-lying spell that they all were happy to be here and were able to leave and go where they pleased. Several did visit their parents in Ryelef on a regular basis but hadn't left recently because of intense studying. The party talked to teachers at the school who were mostly busy preparing lessons in magic and clothing as well as grading the students work. The students were having major exams this week in buttons, herbology, potions, and ribbons, which the teachers prayed would not be interrupted by the conflict.

The castle was staffed by a village of gnomes that lived in the castle dungeon and halflings that had homes dug into the grounds of the castles private gardens, all of which were members of Lord Ravenbourne's private army. Fiona and Cedric met with the general of Lizard Teat's guardian corpse, a Gnome gussied up in green garb named Gnall. Gnall said "Ravenbourne's plans are to do a surgical strike on the leadership of Ryelef with the wizard teachers while our gnome and halfling troops surround the city and distract and harass the city guards. We won't be attacking any humans that don't attack us first. We have a secondary plan in case Fiske can't be found to transport en mass all the humans from Ryelef to the nearby farming and forest areas before rapidly escalating the sinking of Ryelef. We'll drop the entire city into the lake below and directly onto the heads of the frog-fish men," he said. He admitted that they were afraid that Fiske would be assaulting the castle soon as many spies and assassins had hit the castle for the last few months and seemed to be doing so with an increased frequency. A plan had been put place in case of siege and students and teachers were drilled on what to do in case of attack. The party was not included in any of the plans, Gnall said that he expected Ravenbourne to convince the party to leave the land before the fighting broke out.

Chapter 16: the special touch

The day turned to night and the party was summoned to the dining hall, all the students and teachers were there already sitting at four long tables, they seemed to have been divided off by various personality characteristics. One table seemed very battle oriented, wanting to make magical armour, another table was dedicated to more intellectual pursuits and focused on what they called "smart robes", magic robes that would either collect information or help improve thinking in general. Another table wanted nothing but practical clothes that were enhanced into doing household chores and field work without the need to actually be worn. The fourth table created "assassin wear" clothes that helped in killing, poison brewing, or necromancy and "Imperial garb, clothes that would contour themselves to not just the body of the person wearing it but also adjust to fashion trends. They had a problem with the clothes not becoming transparent after a few hours of wear. There was a table at the front for the teachers and Lord Ravenbourne which is where the party had been asked to sit "as special guests of Lord Ravenbourne" as it were announced. A chair and golden plate were set for each party member, including Prince the Badger.

"In honour of our special guests, I request the Lizard Teat's band play as part of the nightly floor show. Please stand up and ready your wands!" said Lord Ravenbourne. There was an audible groan from the student body as three kids from each table stood up and gathered to one side. They drew their wands out and held them as one would hold musical instruments before beginning to play a lively marching tune. Dinner was roasted turkey, gravy, leafy greens, roasted root vegetables, and stuffing, with the roasted turkeys marching from the kitchen carrying the bowls of gravy, leafy greens, and root vegetables. After the arrival of the feast one of the teachers lead the group in prayer. A roasted turkey hopped up and looked as if it were trying to peck at a loaf of bread that was in a basket on the table until Ravenbourne tapped it with his wand and it scampered back to its tray. "How bizarre. I told the cook before, no bread near me, bread is unhealthy and leads to conspiracies as well as painful cramps" said Lord Ravenbourne. There were also various pies and bottles of wine, which had not been carried by turkeys, they flew in by themselves.

After having climbed up onto its tray the turkey started carving off its own flesh and served the hungry. The party ate most of the meal except for the turkey. Cedric ate it happily saying afterwards that it had the same gaminess that was found in unicorn. Dawn considered the stuffing but declined when she saw the turkey grab a spoon and dig some out of its own cavity before offering it to her. One of the teachers looked to the party and said "We've gotten used to the turkey, the spirit of the animal is long gone, all the movement is done through magic. It's the crawling meat loafs that Ravenbourne gets told off for trying to serve, look like giant slugs they do, ketchupy slime trails and all. If you're still hungry after dinner you can pop into the kitchen at any point and grab something that hasn't moved post mortem, a lot of people do" Dawn, Fiona, Janithus and Rothgar headed to the kitchen shortly after dinner, Markus and Grimrose planned to visit later. Dawn and Fiona each grabbed a summer sausage while Rothgar grabbed some fresh warm bread and a bottle of wine, Janithus found a very nice wheel of cheese. The group all headed to Dawns room to feast on the findings and afterwords Fiona and Rothgar left. Dawn and Janithus made love that night and fell asleep in one another's arms.

They were awoken in the wee hours, before the sun was even close to rising by a large flaming barrel exploding against the side of the castle. At the sound of the first explosion Dawn and Janithus looked out the window to see what was going on. The barrel had been launched by a trebuchet that was being manned by a pack of kobolds. There were two other trebuchets launching flaming barrels at the castle while the Legion of skeletons fought an army of kobolds that looked to be of greater size to the undead warriors. There was also a group of Elves in the battle, but they were dark skinned elves with pale blondish white hair. Soon a group of Gargoyles swooped down from the castle to help the army of deadies and all of the teachers as well as the top students, gnomes, and halflings raced out into battle. Cedric was down in the fray wearing nothing but a loincloth and his boots. Janithus was the next into the fray followed quickly by Dawn, Fiona, and the rest of the party. The battle was more chaotic than anything the party had seen before. The Kobolds were swarming the skeletons but largely ignoring the party, the dark elves focus was purely on the party from the moment they arrived. There seemed to be two Elves for every party member plus extras that were giving it to the Gargoyles. Dawn was battling two separate elves and lost track of where everyone but Prince was. With every thrust and smash of her quarter staff one of the elves would go down for only a moment before returning with a much more ferocious technique. She felt like she had fought all morning long and had many cuts to show for it, quite a few that would scar. The battle ended and Dawn was told that it had lasted only about an hour and urged to come get healed as she looked like a bloody mess. Dawn started searching for the party, finding Fiona first, she was injured and being healed. She called out to Dawn asking her to come to her and get healed, but Dawn said "I have to find the others" Cedric was carrying Rothgar to the healers as Rothgar was unconscious and very pale, having lost quite a lot of blood. Grimrose and Markus were helping with the healing as much as possible but healing was not their school of study. They also called out to Dawn but she said "I have to find Janithus". She finally found her lover laying on the ground, his throat had been slit and he had multiple stab wounds. Dawn's mind was unable to understand what she was staring at, why Janithus wasn't getting up no matter how loudly she shouted at him or how much she shook him. Finally she knelt by his body, holding him close and crying until she had no more tears to weep with, until there was no sound coming from her mouth and she past out. The Trebuchets had managed to knock down the front door and several walls, cracking the foundation of the building itself. Lord Ravenbourne has singes to his hair and robes as well as a few minor cuts and scrapes but he as not seriously injured. The wizard worked with his teachers to heal the living and repair their home, his army of the undead digging graves for the fallen, Janithus, Prince the Badger and Rothgar were amongst the dead, along with three teachers and eighteen of the students who had been killed. Many of those students had not yet reached thirteen years of age, twenty three kobolds of the fifteen hundred and two out of sixteen of the dark elves were captured for questioning, the rest were being buried in a mass grave.

The dark elves were questioned but refused to talk until they were put under heavy duress, their bodies racked with pain from magical inducements. They admitted to working for Fiske as assassins who were there to take out the party and several students who were the children of the cities elite, and Ravenbourne if possible. The death of the party and the children would be blamed on Ravenbourne and used for rationale for a pre-emptive strike on the castle. The elves blamed their failure entirely on the kobolds. The kobolds had been hired by the dark elves and knew nothing. The kobolds were later set free and chased off by skeletons, the dark elves were transported via magic to another continent. After everyone was healed and the students were back inside General Gnall came up to Lord Ravenbourne and asked "Assemble the troops?"

"Yes, but only the living. I will command the skeletons to stay here on guard duty alone. If you do not hear from me by midnight of the second day return to the castle. You will need to go into my office. Pick up the red skull from my desk and smash it. The skeletons will be immediately returned to their tombs, I would like it if I never have to see the dead again," Lord Ravenbourne said, wiping a tear from his eye.

Lord Ravenbourne turned to the party and said "This attack was not just on me and my students but on your group as well. I will still send you into safety if you wish, but I will not forbid you from taking your revenge on Fiske as well. I will admit, so that there are no questions that I was from a small wizarding village that was located near Ryelef. Fiske organized an attack by goblins and hobgoblins that wiped the village off the map. The village was attacked because they were curious about the city and had stumbled on Fiske and his plans. I was not in the village at the time, I was visiting a friend far away, and when I came back everyone was dead. My sister, my brother, my parents and my fiancée, slaughtered and left out to rot and be picked by vultures. Yes, I want personal revenge on Fiske, but it will help mankind as well and I am not willing to risk the lives of the innocent. If you want to give it to Fiske, please come with me," he then turned and walked to a spot where the gates to the school grounds had been. The sun was rising while Lord Ravenbourne began chanting and holding his hands in front of his chest. The air between his hands seemed to ripple before small jets of colourful energy plumed from the air and began to swirl. First red, then orange and yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet came next followed by black, white, and grey. The energy circled and blended creating a magical hole in the air.

General Gnall and his troops assembled, freshly polished armour on and weapons ready. They stood in formation with the General personally inspecting them. The hole grew large enough for everyone to walk through and one could see the walls of Ryelef less than a mile on the other side of the hole.

"GENERAL, FORWARD MARCH!" shouted Lord Ravenbourne and the troops marched through the gateway. Once the last soldier was though the gateway Ravenbourne flicked his wrist and the scene changed to an alleyway within sight of the capitol.

"Last chance to flee to safety," said Ravenbourne.

"Not happening. Fiske killed your Fiancée and he killed mine. Are squid heads edible?" asked Dawn.

"If cooked properly. Remind me when we get done with this to tell you a story about your Dad cooking one of Dhuknos's friends," replied Cedric

Lord Ravenbourne looked to Cedric and then Dawn before saying "now it all makes sense," and then headed through the gateway. There was a commotion going on in the city, many guards were running towards the walls shouting "We're under attack" . Once everyone was though Several teachers started holding their hands forward at a spot on the ground. The ground melted away forming a hole that led into the sewers. They all climbed down into the sewers and followed one of the teachers who seemed to know where he was going. There were a few zombies and skeletons that were easy to dispatch, the giant rats and alligators were seen but wanted nothing to do with the approaching group. Outside of Dawn and Cedric the rest of the party that had survived had stayed at the castle, Fiona was too heavily injured to come with, while Markus and Grimrose stayed behind to try helping where ever they could. The group stopped walking when they reached what appeared to be a dead end. The wizard teachers started melting the brick wall which looked much newer than the surrounding structure. It opened enough to show a corridor in what looked to be a deep dungeon and they walked through. "Where are we?" asked Cedric

"Technically this is the second sub vault for the Treasury. Oh, and if we should get captured you two will most likely be executed for having attempted to rob the treasury. The teachers and I will most likely not have as pleasant of a fate. Now, left and then up the stairs, through the false wall will bring us into the platinum and large value gem storage vault, feel free to grab whatever is in the open. We must open the door quietly as there will be a guard sleeping in a chair right next to the door. There will be two additional guards in the hallway who are also most likely sleeping. I would stun them but there may be magic alarms that would be set off by that," said Lord Ravenbourne.

They went up the stairs and pushed open a false wall carefully and entered the room. There were leather bags that each had ten thousand gold pieces worth of Platinum coins in them as well as gemstones as big as Cedric's hands. A thorough accountant would find that the room was missing nearly one hundred thousand worth of coin and gem after the group had passed through, only half of which was taken by Cedric and Dawn. Dawn was tempted to slit the throat of the sleeping guard, to let him die like Janithus had but she didn't. Cedric was not so kind, a total of three guards died in their sleep after a metal spike was driven through each of their temples.

Chapter 18: You want to wrestle against THAT!?

The group came upon a room that had runes carved into the frame of the door, the teachers had stopped and were studying the runes. Apparently they formed a powerful spell that would render the magic of any wizard passing through useless if they were not invited in. The only way to disable the spell would be to remove the runes, but if they were touched with magic they would be activated. The teachers had no idea what to do.

"Cedric, would you mind showing my over paid teachers the proper application of brute force?" said Lord Ravenbourne.

Cedric grinned and then walked up to the door frame, and examined it for a moment.

"This shit was cheaply made, this is what happens when you go for the lowest bidder in construction," he said before taking out his war-hammer. The aged paladin swung it from right to left, hitting the top right corner and knocking the whole frame off the wall with one swing before raising his right boot and kicking the door off its hinges. The spell did fire but all of its power hit Cedric, whose divine magic would be renewed the next time he went to temple and prayed. When the door flew off its hinges it landed on a table with three squid heads sitting at it. Fiske's rubbery mask had been on the table and was knocked off onto the floor. Fiske stood up, tannish tentacles turning a dark red in anger and waving in surprise.

"See boys, I told you we'd get her here if we took out her dirty little flute star. Now Mera, you can surrender yourself and the stone willingly or we kill everyone and chew out just enough of your brain to make you...pliable," said Fiske looking straight at Dawn.

"GO TO HELL!" Dawn shouted. All her rage ran from her heart into the stone which had been nestled next to her breast for quite some time now before surging into her hands and flowing out into the ground. A large stone spike erupted through the ground under Fiske and would have gone through his rear and emerged from his mouth but Fiske lost balance, and it shot through his left thigh instead. Another squid head fell but managed to land with the tip of the stone spike going through his forehead and out the other side, pinning him on top of Fiske's leg. The squid head that was not yet injured began hurling magic at the teachers, several of whom were caught by surprise and died instantly. The surviving teachers began deflecting and reflecting the spells before firing their own off. Fiske managed to shatter the stone spike and stood up, a large chunk of rock going all the way through his leg. The wizards were not doing well against the squid heads, in the end the only ones standing were Fiske, Lord Ravenbourne, Cedric and Dawn. Ravenbourne jumped over the remains of the table and grabbed Fiske, falling to the ground with him. Both magic users were trying to grab each others heads to blast with a spell, mostly blowing holes in the floor. Finally Fiske grabbed Ravenbourne with his tentacles, ripping into the mages skin, pulling open his skull, and fracturing the wizards mind with a psychic attack as his tentacles burrowed into the wizards brain. The wizard's magic began flaring and managed to open a gateway in the floor beneath them which began sucking anything in that didn't resist. The table and chairs were pulled in along with Fiske's mask, the bodies of the teachers and squid head were all devoured by the gateway to the unknown. Fiske finally regained his footing for a moment while grabbing a newly exposed support beam in the wall but the dead weight of the dying Lord Ravenbourne who was still attached to Fiske's tentacles toppled him into the portal, they both fell through before a blinding flash of light fired off and the portal disappeared immediately, neither of them were seen again.

"Alright kid, let's get the hell out of here," Cedric said to Dawn. She followed him back the way they came, emerging through the alley they first entered from. The earlier shouting and chaos had died down near the capitol and wasn't noticed unless you went to a gate or the wall. No one was being let in or out of the city, anyone approaching the port on land or sea would be turned back with whatever force was needed. Dawn and Cedric returned to the Inn and went to their rooms. Dawn wondered how long it would be before she saw Fiona or the boys again.

Chapter 19: you are required to feel

Cedric and Dawn spent three days at the Inn, with Dawn not eating more than once a day and always at Cedric's insistence. Cedric's appetite for food and liquor had not changed and he went to bed each night drunk. The pair did take daily walks around town to listen for gossip and wait for the gates to reopen. The encroachment by Lord Ravenbourne's army was a fraying of a rope that withheld revolution, the disappearance of Fiske and his cohorts along with a large quantity of coin and gem finally broke that rope when it was discovered two days afterwards. There were riots in the streets as well as open looting. The guards still protected the governmental buildings and gateways but more and more of them were failing to report for duty or becoming part of the rebellion. There was a border of order in the shell of this egg and protecting its yolk, but chaos surged in the white. The army of Lord Ravenbourne disappeared during the second night but the peoples of Ryelef had tasted the kiss of anarchy and liked it, so many years of repression fueled a flame that wasn't to be quenched anytime soon. The guards finally gave up and left the gates to protect their homes allowing the people to come and go as they pleased. Fiona, Grimrose and Markus showed up later that day and met Dawn and Cedric at the Inn to decide what to do.

"The rioting has shut the port down for a while, half of it was burned to uselessness during a fight at the the sailors tavern, The Shitting Fairy. We can go out to the farmers or the foresters without trouble, but Ryelef is in a pocket of forest surrounded on all sides except the port by mountains. The only passes through the mountains are chocked full of Orcs, Goblins, and Bandit. There ain't no way for a group of five, especially with Fiona's gimp leg, nothing personal, Fiona, to walk from here to Neul Chianogos," said Cedric.

"Agreed. We need to get a ship to get where we need to be, and we can't just jump in a row boat and chase after one hoping it'll take us with. No, we're stuck in the Ryelef area until that port is reopened. So, do we stay in the city and take our chances that no one makes a connection between us and Fiske or do we grab our bags and bug out?" said Fiona.

"Do we have any idea how long the port might take?" Markus asked.

"They need to re-establish the government first, get an engineer and a contractor, order wood and finally hire carpenters. At best I'd say six weeks till the burned material is removed, another month before the first board is nailed, maybe a month to a month and a half after that, especially if there's gnomes running the show. If there's no gnomes it will be at least three months. This is all assuming the replacement government actually makes it a priority to rebuild the port," said Cedric.

"That will put the opening right in time for sea storm season. There won't be a ship for three months once the first storm hits," said Fiona.

"Okay. I have a standing invite from a Druid in the forest, if we have that much time I'd like to study under him for a while," said Dawn. Cedric had been sipping an ale, and spat it out at hearing this. The spitting was followed by a short bout of coughing before laughing.

"Wow, you druids really don't waste time, getting right back on that horse" Cedric said.

"What are you on about you old drunk?" asked Dawn

"You don't realize what your saying, do you Dawn? Druid training can be very...intimate...if you know what I mean," Cedric said with a smirk.

"Cedric, you really are a lecherous creep," replied Dawn.

"Ah, actually, he's not too far off, Dawn, he's crude and needs to learn manners but I've known many druids. Its not all like that and most teachers don't require it of students but the magic of nature is breeding, death, fertility, life, and passion are all part of that. There are a lot of very personal relationships between teachers and their students. You might want to take some time to feel your loss before exposing yourself to that," said Markus, Grimrose nodded his head in agreement.

Dawn went back to her room and sat on her bed thinking. She came out to read and had tea, but wasn't really eating much. She said she wasn't hungry and believed it, but she wasn't sleeping more than an hour or two each day and it began to show. She started looking even more pale than natural, dark bags under her eyes and her hair showed no sign of brushing. Hygiene and time lost meaning.

After a few weeks a provisional city government was formed with a plan to repair all damage and reorganize the relationship between citizen, government, and guard. There was a decision to have formal elections in six weeks no matter what with everyone in the city and in the surrounding countryside including those staying at the inn getting a vote. A building that had been Fiske's mansion was renovated and became a home for the elderly and destitute, allowing dignity for those who had previously been shunned and shoved aside.

Cedric had presented himself and what experience he had in construction for consideration as contractor for the port and impressed the provisional city council. They approved his budget after lengthy discussion of each item unanimously. Hiring of gnome engineers was the first task and purchase of lumber was next, a group of workers were collected and tasked with removal of the ruined piers. They paid special attention to reclaiming as many nails as they could as trade in metal was gone until the port was returned to full functionality. There was a celebratory bonfire using the ruined wood from the pier and cook out on the day that the first plank was laid with the provisional mayor hammering the first nail into place. Building progressed ahead of schedule once Grimrose began aiding the transport of wood to the port using magic while Markus managed to pull nails from boards that had fallen into the sea back to dry land for reuse. The six piers that made the port as well as the board walk were rapidly taking shape, two of the pier that could handle the smaller of mid sized, deep water ships were within a week of completion, the next two deeper water larger piers would be done in about two weeks after that and the final two piers each a week after the previous one. The tavern on the pier, which had been renamed The Sitting Pretty was reopened but the entire second floor was commandeered as Cedric's office.

Near midnight, while Cedric was racking his brain over a safety report, one of his top workers, a gnome named Smeg, came running in.

"Boss! Boss! Dawn's sitting on the edge of the deep pier. There's sharks already circling and she has the look of a jumper!"

"Oh Bollocks!" Cedric shouted, jumping up from his chair. He ran downstairs and out the door into a fierce and driving wind. Sea Storm had hit early and construction was going to be halted for a while if this kept up. Cedric walked over to Dawn and sat down next to her, wind and rain whipping at them both. Cedric could see to sharks circling the pier and was scared shitless.

"How about this weather?" Cedric asked.

Dawn looked at him with a face of confusion.

"I loved him and didn't get to say goodbye. I didn't get to wish him luck or even give him a final kiss. Do you know what the last thing we said to one another? He said he needed to get a drink of water, and I asked him if he could bring me a cup too. It was meaningless chatter. It was purely needful, there was no poetry, no beauty, no meaning. Was my whole time with him just hormones and rubbing squishy bits and senselessness? Do I have any right to have claimed love?" she said while staring into the deep below.

"What is it with your family and sitting out on a ledge in the rain? You didn't know this, but your mom was your dad's second wife. The first one died violently and for all the wrong reasons, and your dad sat out on a ledge on top of the tallest lookout tower in Neul Chianogos in the worst storm that city had seen in years. They called me to talk him down off the ledge after he missed inspection for the second day in a row. He had sat up there moping, hoping the wind would just knock him off the edge, thinking he deserved it for not protecting her. I was temped to smack him on the forehead and drag him back to the barracks but I just talked to him, reminding him that he was the best thing to come from that village I built generations ago, and if my daughter, his great grandmother saw how he was acting she'd pop him once too. Honey, I'm a crusty old curmudgeon that's been shat on by life more times than I can count, but I wouldn't change any of it for the world. You lived. You loved in your own way, and if you felt it, if you felt anything beyond what happens between the sheets then its real, you experienced. Darling this life is your story and you have to write it, but there's a whole lot of blank pages that you need to put something on. Come back to the tavern. We'll have a drink and honour those who passed and those who will pass. I'll tell you more about your father than you ever wanted to know," he said.

She looked at him and spat at one of the circling sharks, hitting it on the nose before standing up and walking to the tavern with Cedric. The tavern was shut down to normal customers because of the storm but Cedric had been given free access to the bar as long as he wrote down what bottles he emptied. The pair spent the rest of the night doing shots of rye whiskey and talking. Cedric told Dawn of bar fights that her father had been in and how he had met her mom. He told her of military campaigns and nights spent in the mud and blood of the battlefield. He told her of women he had loved, not just spent some time with, but loved and lost with time.

"I died when I was only in my forty eight year on this planet. I had travelled to a far eastern empire and had been very rude in front of the wrong people. They sent a concubine to spend the night with me and she turned out to be an assassin who specialized in this sort of job. I died and left my body. The body itself was cremated. I found myself face to face with Saint Boric, a God of Revenge that looked at everything I did in life and told me that I had earned a ticket to hell but he wanted to use me to fix problems in the world. I popped back into the world, my body restored to its scarred and achy form. I can't die until the world is significantly less bad. I won't die of being old or getting sick. I can't be poisoned and can't kill myself. I could fall in combat but it's not likely to happen. Sometimes I wish I could pass on, but my book ain't done being written either."

Shortly after sunrise Dawn passed out and Cedric put her on a couch in his office, covering her with a blanket before starting a pot of water boiling for fresh goat bean juice. After his first cup he went out to inspect the damage the storm had taken on the pier. The damage was minor, a few small boards came loose but nothing to worry about.

Fiona ran up to him in a panic, "I can't find Dawn. She was last seen by the innkeeper. He said she asked him what the point of it all was before leaving. We don't need her to be trying to get to the other side, can you spare some time to help look for her?"

Cedric looked at Fiona and said "Don't worry, she's sleeping in my office. We chatted and drank, it'll be out of her system by the next time she pisses. She'll have a hangover like you wouldn't believe when she gets up, but she'll be ready to head out to train with the Druid within a few days. You said you were going to talk to him, did you have a chance to yet?"

"Yeah, actually. I spent three nights in the lumber camp talking with Joe and Bud. They know what she's been through and are going to be delicate. There's a full moon tonight and I'm going to head out to the woods and stay there till we have a ship to get us out of here. I was asked by a city official about my connection to Fiske, they know we're the last group he dealt with, I'm getting nervous. You might want to consider an exit strategy yourself." she said

"Don't worry, I got that covered. I cleaned everything out of my room at the inn a week ago, I'm just paying for the room to make it look like a place to look for me. I also figured out this town's sinking problem. Fiske and his buddies created an elaborate sewer system but the pipes that the sewage is supposed to go into to leave the city were never connected to the sewers. All the sewage and storm water has been channelled into a series of water powered drills that have been cork screwing their way through the ground. I need to get my gnomes to reopen the proper pipes and make the water flow the right way," said Cedric.

"That will fix it all?" asked Fiona.

"No, that will stop it from getting worse. I've been talking to an alchemist that swears up and down he's got a way to turn water into steel, but he also says he can turn belly button lint into platinum,"said Cedric.

"There's a druid spell I've heard of that can change mud into rock, after some training Dawn might be able to do it but for the scale of this city she will need other druids to join in," said Fiona.

"Sounds like we need to plan a gathering," said Cedric.

"Who's this we, you have a mouse in your pants or something?" asked Fiona.

"It ain't never been called a mouse, darling. The city needs to have new people in positions of authority, you could be great for the security department or agri-commerce," said Cedric.

"And the mission?" asked Fiona.

"Will be waiting for Dawn to be ready. Gerald trained her body well enough to be a warrior but she needs the druids for the next stage of her life. Dawn's going to be with the druids for a while, unless they're putting her through some special crash course its going to be a year and a day at least and once she's done with them we're going to need as many druids as we can to pull this city up by about ten feet. Great, a swarm of druids and their fluff bunny followers prancing about the city. I'll need to send a memo that the city should stock up on booze and crystals," replied Cedric with a roll of the eyes.

Chapter 20: That's not what we do with magic acorns

Dawn woke up from her drunken stupor to find Cedric's gnome, Smeg sitting on a chair and watching her. He had a cup of goat bean juice waiting for her which helped her wake up enough to being violently vomiting. She was physically miserable for a day and a half, but in that time she had decided that she needed to get on her magic pony and ride. She packed her bag, everything she had still fit into her fathers pack, and headed out, thanking Yovalna for everything before leaving.

She talked to Fiona who had purchased a safe to store the Stone in during Dawn's training, the safe would be stored in Cedrics office till they left. Dawn had been shown how to change the combination and was the only one in the room when she placed the stone inside. Fiona would come visit during the full moon, but for the rest of the time she was going to stay in the city and make sure Cedric didn't get into any trouble, Cedric was according to Fiona currently unavailable, which meant he was either piss drunk or with a prostitute. There were rumours of him being elected but both Dawn and Fiona thought that would never happen. She hugged Grimrose and Markus making sure they knew that they could visit her any time, assuming the druids let her have visitors. Before leaving city limits she stopped in a pawn shop and asked for an appraisal on the ring Janithus had given her, it was worth three thousand gold pieces according to the goblin running the shop but she knew that was a low figure. She looked at the ring for a while and was torn between selling it so she wouldn't be haunted by his memory and keeping it for the memories.

After she left the pawn shop she headed for the timber road, walking out of Ryelef with no regrets. Dawn walked the five miles to the forester base camp but Joe wasn't there. They asked what she needed and she said that she was there to take him up on an offer he made the last time she came through these parts, which got many giggles and snickers from everyone who heard. She asked if anyone knew where he was or when he would be back but no one knew, they told her if she parked her rear next to his tent that he'd come by sooner or later. Dawn sat by the tent and waited watching the men at work, hearing a surprising number of bird calls and other animal noises over the sounds of the axes and saws. She wondered what being an official druid would be like while nibbling on some dried smoked meat that she brought with her. She sighed, wondering if her time was being wasted in waiting, worried that Joe would tell her that he changed his mind and she needed to leave. Finally she fell asleep where she was and woke up late that night, after the sun had gone down. Dawn was no longer alone, she was surrounded by what were presumably people, wearing long dark coloured robes and hoods, each one had a mask on. There were twelve of the robed individuals and they each held a burning torch, standing silently, Dawn could feel their eyes on her. They had formed a circle around Dawn while she was sleeping, directly in front of Dawn was a shovel stuck into the ground. Next to the shovel was a white piece of cloth draped across the ground with a red rope coiled on it, and a single large acorn sitting on a leather bag next to the rope.

One of the circle stepped forward and removed the mask that it wore. The face of the individual was covered in a white shroud. "Stand. You are the Woman Who Walked here. You will hear my words. You have come to learn the ways of nature from us and in doing so you will become one with us and the you that you were shall no longer be. We are the Druids of the Western Wood, we are the spirits of the forest, both the fauna and flora. The woman you were born as, the woman who walked here, must die, we will dig a grave for her in the soil and plant you. We will nestle you in the womb of this world, our mother and from her you shall be born, you must rise from the ground seeking our knowledge as the seed sprouts from the ground and grows seeking the sun. One day with devotion, discipline, and time you shall grow in knowledge and wisdom as the tree has grown. You shall be as bold as the badger, as strong as the boar, as wise as the owl, and as deadly as the viper. You must agree to this to go forward, if you do not agree to it this is your chance to leave and simply be the simple woman who walked away. If you do agree, you must strip yourself naked now," said the androgynous white shroud.

Dawn had stood when commanded to do so and now looked to the pale white shroud and to the animal faces under the hoods. She looked to the animal mask that was laying on the ground, it was the face of the badger, the face of Prince that she missed as much as the face of Janithus. She thought for a moment and then took off her warm dark green cloak folding it neatly. Dawn removed her rabbit fur lined leather boots and her summer weight cotton socks. Next she pulled her autumn leaf brown tunic over her head, folding it neatly and pulled down her skirt standing for a moment in her underclothes, adjusting to the cold evening air. She finally stripped down to only what she was born with, having given all of her clothes to a druid wearing a rabbit mask. A druid with the mask of a flower came over to the white cloth on the ground and picked up the red rope before walking over to Dawn. The flower looped the rope around Dawn's waist, tying a knot at her navel. The rabbit and flower measured out three lengths of rope from Dawns foot to her head, then tied the other end of the rope around the bundle that was her clothing. Two druids walked over to Dawn carrying a large rounded wicker bowl that was suspended from a long thick wooden rod. They sat it down next to Dawn and motioned for her to get in and sit which she did, the bowl smelled of herbs and was made from a very prickly coated in resin.

"The Woman who Walked here is dead, we must now bury her in the womb of the mother, where she will be fertilizer for the next generation," the shroud said. They began walking through the woods, Dawn was rocking in the rounded bowl, prickly wicker poking her naked and cold flesh. Dawn quickly became disoriented, dizzy, nauseated and she was sweating. For the first time ever her natural compass was simply spinning in circles; and she felt completely lost. The druids took her down a hill and into a valley. The valley had a hill in its centre, and the druids walked at least three times around the hill before stopping at a rocky outcropping where the druid with the white shroud walked up to a rock wall, and tapped on it three times with its hand, the rock wall seemed to melt out of view. Dawn did not know if it was magic or a doorway, but it was a great effect. There was a path that sloped down into the cave that was formed from the disappearance of the rock wall, inside was a space that was at least thirty feet in diameter, with a pool of water where the slope ended. In the centre of the pool of water was an island of rock that was about ten feet in diameter which the group walked to and deposited Dawn at its centre. Dawn noticed that the majority of the island was actually dirt, the rock was just about a one foot wide strip that separated the dirt from the water. A druid who had a mask that looked like a deer's head walked over to her and began digging in the ground while the shrouded druid walked up to Dawn and pulled out a stick that had the claw, fang, or talon of some creature and an extremely long thorn on one end with about an inch of space between the two points. It reminded her of the pinchers she has seen on crabs and insects.

"You stand in the holy womb of the mother, you came here carried as a babe is carried within its mother. The rope connecting you to your past is one that you can cut, but doing so will cause your blood to be spilt upon this ground. Everyone who has stood here, everyone who does stand here, and everyone who will stand here bleeds here. When you pass from life your body will be buried in the forest but your heart will be placed in here. This is the final commitment before you begin learning the ways of the druid, you must be bled by animal and plant, which will hurt, you must swear to the five fingers of the druids hand which is the tool you use and the punishing hand, you must be buried and wait for us to come for you. Do you agree to this?" asked the shrouded druid.

"Yes, I agree to all that you have stated," Dawn replied, feeling like she might vomit at any moment.

"Good. Stand with legs spread apart, arms raised to be parallel to the ground. I will cut you now,"

The shrouded druid placed the two points on the rope at Dawns waist, near the knot at her navel and gave it a twist, severing the rope with surprising swiftness, the pointy bits were clearly sharper that they looked and had sliced her skin on either side of her navel. Dawn had expected a slight pinprick on the hand but what she got was both sharp and pointy things poking her right at the hair line and then moving down to stab into her lips. She was stabbed next to her arm pits on each side, before having the poker make a hole on either side of each of her nipples. The poker then nicked each of her labia before moving down and stabbing her knees, finishing with a two pronged poke in each foot. Blood trickled down from the holes on each of these spots, raining down upon the ground below her. Dawn was now sweating like she had been running from a herd of bears on the hottest day of summer, her sweat stinging the wounds and mixing with her blood before soaking into the ground. Dawn wondered if the pokey things were coated in some substance or if the druids had more power than she realized because the walls of the cave now looked like the pink tissue found inside the body They rippled with power and Dawn could hear the rhythm of a massive heartbeat all around her. She no longer saw people in robes wearing animal masks, she now saw a circle of animals standing with her at the centre. The deer finished digging and shoved the bundle of clothing into the hole with its antlers, rope still wrapped around it and tied to Dawn. The deer then covered the clothing, patting the dirt down smooth with its hooves. The druid with the white shroud was no longer there either, instead there was a sphere of glowing white floating in front of her. The sphere spoke with an androgynous voice that faded in and out between being a whisper and a shout.

"You must swear to never reveal what you learn from us to any who has not died and been reborn. Do you swear to this?" asked the sphere.

"I Do," was the reply.

"You must swear that you did not walk here and that the woman who walked is now buried. Do you swear to this?" asked the now swirling bubble of white.

"I Do," replied the girl who saw roots sprouting from where toes were.

"You must swear to respect the life of all plants and animals as you would humans. You must heal the sick and cull those who cannot live. Do you swear this?" asked the pulsating pearl of peace.

"I Do," said the woman who now saw herself covered in patches of feather, fur, leaf, moss, and scale.

"You must swear that for the forest of the natural world you have been bound to and bled on the sacred womb of the mother. Do you swear to this?" said the elegant eye.

"I Do" replied a woman made of sticks.

"You must swear to do as little harm as you can, and never attack or harm the uncorrupted forest or those that live within it without just cause? Do you swear to this?" asked the egg before her.

"I Do," said the soon to be born infant.

Visions of nature at both its most beautiful and at its cruelist floated through her mind for the rest of the night. The animals in the womb sang and drank wine, some of them mated with creatures of different species or the same gender. She saw forests erupt from the desert that had felt its first rain, fish eaten by fish, who were eaten by a bear, who died to fertilize the plants that dropped fruit, into the water before the first fish swam up and ate the fruit. The ground below her told her about her mother and how much she loved climbing trees and stealing apples from the orchard of the local sheriff. Fire blazed and sang of the wars her father and most of his ancestors fought and died in. The water whispered to her all the things she felt and forgot. The air spoke of what intelligence beamed from her actions and how things would have been different if she hadn't thought about what she was doing. In that cave the sun chased the moon and stars shot through the sky with a terrifying speed and the woman who was conceived there, who would be born soon enough didn't just see and hear this, she felt the stars which were so bright but cold to the touch. She tasted the moon which tasted of mothers milk, she smelled the sun and it smelled like the life and death.

She awoke the next day to find herself laying in a fetal position in an oval crater of red dirt, a layer of the red soil coating her. The walls of the cave once again looked like stone and sunshine flowed into the cave, warming the spot she lay on. She tried to stand but there was not a single muscle that was not sore. Her skin was very tender around each puncture even though they had scabbed over. Bud and Joe came into the cave looking to her with deep smiles. "Are you ready to emerge into the world?" they asked.

"Yeah, gimme a sec," she said as she stretched, every joint popping like it was dried corn thrown into a pan over a hot fire. She finally stood up and wobbled towards the pair.

"You probably don't remember much of last night so I'm telling you now. You can't use your old name any more in the druid community. You can be that name to non druids but for the next month you will need to respond to sapling. We will walk you to the river. Once you've had a chance to freshen up there will be a short blessing , nothing like what happened last night and then you'll be presented with your first druid robe. You will need to wear this for one full month and then you will be allowed to wear whatever you want, and you can take a druid name at that point. Druid names are just what you are called by other Druids, most start using their birth names around non druids but that's up to you.

There wasn't much ceremony beyond that, sapling, as she was now known got wet and felt better. Joe and Bud got naked and stood in the water with Sapling and said that she was blessed by the daylight and all that it shines on while all holding hands before all three climbed out of the water and into robes, Saplings being an unbleached off white colour. Once outside the water Joe and Bud turned to Sapling and said "You will now perform your first druidic duty," said Joe. He pulled out a small leather bag and handed it to Dawn.

"This bag represents your placenta. It has been filled with the dirt that caught your blood and the blood of every druid that has been through this ordeal. Inside the dirt is the acorn that was on the white cloth when you woke last night. This acorn is your future, and it is your duty to find the right spot in the forest to plant it. You must water it and protect it from the trampling foot. Don't plant it too close to another or it will be starved of light. Planting it where a mighty tree fell would be a good idea," said Bud. Joe looked at Bud and said "You're supposed to let her figure that last part out,". They each kissed Sapling on the lips.

"Until you leave the grove I will be your father and teacher," said Joe.

"Until you leave the grove I will be your mother and teacher," said Bud.

Sapling took the name Rising Star on the last day of the month and there was a meteor shower that night, a good omen to druids. Sapling drank what they taught her like someone who hadn't had a drink in years. She was taught everything about animals from their tracks to their mating calls, habits, and season, she was grilled on what each animals poop was like and what you could learn about the animal from its droppings. She learned how big the average litter was, what the birthing grounds looked like and how protective of the babies the mother was. She learned about every bodily fluid and tissue found in nature and how it could be used. She was grilled just as thoroughly on plants, rocks and the weather. She became close friends with a druid she later realised was the one under the white shroud. The druid's name was Jem, and Jem was Bud's half-sibling. Bud was just like her mother, a Nymph. Bud's father had been a druid but had died protecting the land that he loved. Bud's mother's second husband was a Satyr and for some reason their child turned out a perfect hybrid of Nymph and Satyr, Jem was the most beautiful cloven hooved hermaphrodite the world had ever seen, and Jem was the most powerful druid ever, far more powerful than Rising Star could hope to be. The druids initiated Rising Star into their deepest mysteries and taught her all the magic she could learn. Finally the Druids told her she was one with the land and ready for the road that would rise before her.

A year and a day had passed with Fiona visiting three days of the month every month to update Rising Star as to what was going on with Cedric, Grimrose and Markus who were also sporadic visitors to the grove. Rising Star decided that she would go back to using Dawn once she was out of the grove. She also started showing an artistry for wood working, which was the last thing Bud taught her, through a combination of magic and carving she made a breastplate of wood that was sized perfectly for her (with a little padding in case she gained some weight) before charging it with a spell that turned wood as hard as metal. As long as she let the light of the full moon shine on it whenever the moon was out the power of the spell would remain in place. She sat in meditation as a certain familiar blonde boy with a bowl haircut came running up to her. He told her that Cedric needed her at The Mouths Inn and a ship had been hired, a ship named Molly. She cast the same spell on her quarterstaff as she had cast on her armour before she picked up her backpack and headed back for Ryelef.

Chapter 21: the heart of the city

Within a few days as Cedric had predicted Dawn was off to the druids, Joe and Bud taking her as a student. Cedric finished the Port within a week with the assistance of Markus and Grimrose, and all three men were honoured with keys to the city. Cedric's name was being tossed about for consideration in the upcoming election as a potential mayor. Cedric told everyone who would listen that he had previous commitments and couldn't be a mayor but his name ended up on the ballot any ways. Cedric was elected in a landslide election, and appointed Fiona to be in charge of Agri-commerce. Markus was placed in charge of the reopened Ministry of Magic, the Ministry had been shut down by Fiske and folded into the Department of the Treasury but Cedric felt it needed to be strengthened. Grimrose was appointed to be head of foreign relations which included authority over the port and shipping. His appointment was the highest position for anyone overtly not completely human in the history of Ryelef and it led to a great deal of increased interest in commerce from elves, gnomes and orcs across the world. Ships started coming in to port, mostly local small ships that didn't have to face the season of sea storms. They purchased great amounts of everything Ryelef had to offer and both coin and goods flowed into the city through these local entrepreneurs. Ryelef's economy was booming and the city was making progress away from the system that Fiske had used to rule land and people. Fiske had first shown up promoting the idea that government should not be allowed to demand business abide by various trade and labour laws and that the manufacture and use of poison should be up to the individual. Fiske argued that if the laws and powers of the government were stripped away the communities would have the right to decide their own fate. In one weeks time Fiske whipped the people of Ryelef from being content with their village elder style of government to demanding an end to taxation and a special election to replace the city council with a council of liberation. The council led to Ryelef's first period of anarchy and the people begged Fiske to do something to protect them from the lawlessness. Fiske began ruling from the treasury with an iron first.

Under Cedric's administration the local nobility were given a fair share of the profits but the farm hands were no longer their personal toys, they were employees of the government and the nobles had to improve both the living and working conditions for these individuals that lived on and worked the noble owned lands or the city would (and did in one case) confiscate the farm lands. No longer could they get away with abusing the men and women, all levels of society could bring legal grievances to the court against anyone who had harmed them, no matter the station of birth of the defendant. Servants sued and won back wages, merchants demanded a fair price for their goods and services without the elites being able to insist on special discounts, and everyone could look at anyone else in the city and know they were equals.

Cedric worked closely with all branches of government creating as many new jobs in both the public and private sector as he could. He modelled his governance on an idea he read in a book, the idea was for everyone to provide according to their abilities and to be provided for according to their needs. There were occasional disagreements with labour unions when the leadership felt they didn't have enough golden underclothes and the knitters guild went on strike over the price of wool but eventually the city of Ryelef hummed with happy workers. After six months on the job Cedric finally got a meeting with a local druid who seemed to be in charge of the local druid grove. The druid met Cedric in his office, and Cedric couldn't figure out if it was male or female but was still attracted to it, had a plan for lifting the city and prevent it from sinking again. The druid's name was Jem and Jem demonstrated what could be done, taking a basin of water and placing a ceramic plate on the water, a large air bubble trapped under it. Jem started adding ordinary dirt to the water and then turned the mud to stone before picking the plate back up to show it had not fused into the stone.

"The cave down there was built by the fish-frog men. Their chieftains were dominated by Fiske and ordered their people to start digging their way through a cave system. They found a pocket thirty feet in diameter seven miles directly under Ryelef and began to enlarge it at the instruction of the squid heads. The cave is now five miles across, mostly as a lake, with Fiske gone their leaders are no longer able to control the masses, the Fish-frog men have been leaving in small groups of ten to twelve. What needs to be done is to flood the lake under Ryelef with an equal mixture of water and dirt which will chase the rest of them out of there. If we remove the water powered drills that ring the city and seal them the air of the cavern would become pressurized with the rising of the water and would raise the city. At some point the pressure will be too great for the fragile seals and it will escape, I just hope that by then the city will fall only a few inches before hitting mud that was turning to stone, timing is essential. I will send messenger ravens out to all the Druid groves in Cerren Berra and the Moorelands. They will be expecting a summons for a gather from us as its been so long since the last one, and the Western Wood druids were well known for our bread and liquor. They will come. Let's plan for the gather in six months. The city will need to increase the amount of both wheat flour and rye flour as well as rye whiskey, ale, and wine to be available in six months at decent prices, druids tend not to have much coin but will buy as much as they can. Fiske hated the Grove because his mask never fooled us. I am the first druid to be legally allowed inside city limits in five years. I can request the druids avoid the city if you wish," Jem said. Jem was sitting on the corner of Cedric's desk, Jem's shirt was made from a clingy material that showed Jem's breasts very nicely.

"That won't be necessary. Ryelef needs to be welcoming to everyone, druids walking the street of Ryelef will be something to look forward to," said Cedric. He poured two shots of Rye whiskey and stood up, stepping closer to Jem before offering Jem the second shot. Jem stood up, stepping closer to Cedric before drinking the shot when Cedric did. They looked deep into each others eyes and right as Cedric began to lean in for a kiss Jem said "I must warn you, I am a hermaphrodite, if that's a problem we should stop before it's too late," Cedric acknowledged that he understood Jem before they kissed deeply. They made love in his office that night and Jem stayed in town for a few days, meeting Cedric every night and waking up in his arms the next morning. Jem finally told Cedric that it was time to get back to the grove, but that Cedric would be very welcome if he wanted to visit. Cedric started visiting Jem every weekend. Cedric knew his heart, his heart was falling in love with Jem and he liked the idea.

The drills were pulled out and destroyed before the holes were filled with a mixture of water, clay, rock, and sand that gnomes used for grout before a druid turned it into solid stone. Water mills were placed near the cave entrance and put under constant guard while groups of fish-frog men surged out. They occasionally clashed with guards but were more likely to head straight for the sea. Unskilled labourers hauled dirt to the water mills and dumped it into the water being pumped into the cave while gnomes with long air tubes occasionally swam in to check the water level.

Cedric talked to Dawn, or as she was being called now, Rising Star. She was sitting on the ground in a long deep green cloak and already sounding like a real druid. "Wise in everything there is to do with animal piss and always at least a little angry at all the horrible things humans have done to nature. Have you given up meat?" Cedric asked with a grin.

"No, I still eat meat, but I only eat what I catch," she said.

"Do you dig a grave for the remains of what you catch?" he asked.

She gave him a dirty look "You don't have to be a curmudgeonly arsehole all the time Cedric. Fiona should be coming by soon, it's her time of the month, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Grimrose and Markus show up after her say hi to them for me. I have to go to a roots class that will last a few days old man, hug me before I go," she said as she stood and opened her arms to him. He stood up and hugged her before she walked off into the woods. He stood up and went back to Jem's tent to discuss an idea he had.

"Hey darling, last report from the gnome crew is that Ryelef has risen nine inches in the last two days, we're getting close to gather time, you hear anything from the other druids?" asked Cedric.

"Yeah, there's about seventy pre registered and pre paid. I expect around one hundred and thirty more to show up. There would have been more but the planet of Herm will be in retrograde at that time and some druids get freaked out by that," said Jem.

"Herm? That's the one in charge of magic, right?"asked Cedric.

"Exactly. Some astrologers and wizards stock up on dried foods and nail their doors shut went it goes into retrograde," said Jem.

"What the hell is retrograde anyways?" asked Cedric.

"Fuck if I know. I never studied astrology that deeply," said Jem.

"I have an idea that I want to float past you. You know I'm going to be leaving when Rising Star is ready, but I don't really want to leave you or Ryelef. What would you think of running for Ryelef mayor when my term is up?" Cedric asked.

"No. The grove is all I want, but I think Joe would make a good mayor," Jem said.

"That was simple. Yeah, Joe would be good. What are your feelings on marriage?" Cedric asked.

"I would love to marry you Cedric but when you leave I will need to stay here in the grove, if that's were you're going with this discussion," Jem said.

"It is where I was going. It wouldn't be a problem for you that I left or that I'm a randy old goat?" Cedric asked.

"I would insist on an open marriage, as we're both very sexual beings. You will be travelling and I don't want you resenting our vows when some nice piece of ass catches your eyes. I'm bisexual and need men and women in my bed without jelousy. You have my heart and no one can change that, I know I have yours and no one will change that. Are those terms agreeable to you old man?" Jem asked.

"Yeah, that works. So is there a druid marriage ritual or what?" he asked.

"We must wait till tomorrow night, the second night of the full moon. We will share a chalice of water from the river with a drop of blood from each of us in it before speaking the vows we write. Our hands will be fastened together until we lie with each other, there will be a great feast," Jem said. They kissed then and spent another night in each others arms.

In the morning as Cedric was brewing some goat bean juice Smeg, who had been appointed Cedrics secretary of the city came running up to Cedric. "Boss! The Frog fish fuckers, their attacking the city!" he said before falling over, a spear sticking out of his back. Cedric grabbed his gear and ran to the city with Bud, Jem, and Joe leading a group of druids behind him. The frog men had set fire to several sections of the walls surrounding Ryelef and were firing arrows and throwing javelins at both fire fighters and guards with deadly accuracy. There were clashes going on in the city and the semi aquatic enemy were emerging from every entrance to the sewer that could be seen. One of them shouted "Death to the dry monkeys! Reclaim our birthright!" before receiving an arrow through one of its bulbous eyes fired from a druids longbow. They had caught the people of Ryelef unsuspecting but once the troops were rallied they were pushed back to the sewers. Those outside the city ran for the swamps in the south west. No major injuries were reported that day but this was not the last attack. Fresh attacks occurred every couple of hours for three days straight, and it was realized within a few hours of the first attack that the javelins and arrows used were coated in a deadly venom. Amongst the number of people who had caught a flesh wound from these weapons was Bud. She had been hit in the shoulder and the wound refused to close or heal no matter what herb, magic, or medicine was used. Like dozens of others infection set in and as black pus oozed from her injury an amputation was performed. Bud's condition did not improve and the gather of druids soon also became a memorial to a Nymph that was cherished and loved throughout the continent. The fish men were beaten back and driven from the sewers, the walls were replaced with dwarven stonework, fused together with druid magic.

The druid gather was a great success, the druids honoured the city of Ryelef which had opened its forests and gates to the druids of the world. The city of Ryelef managed to rise a total of ninety seven inches, forty three inches higher than how much it had sunk when the druids circled the city and began working their magic. First the cave that pumped muddy water fused shut and a deep rumble could be heard for hundreds of miles from the city. Finally the air pressure under one of the sealed drill holes became too great and the stone plug shot out of place, landing on top of and killing a goblin chieftain that had just shouted "may the gods strike me down if we won't have revenge on Ryelef!". A massive wind blew through the sewer system flooding waste water into the streets and causing dozens of buildings collapse in on themselves. The city began falling but was slowed suddenly, hitting a lake of mud. The Druids tried to speed up their spell work but it was tricky, they risked burning out their own talents and there was no way to tell exactly how far the city might sink before the rest of the mud solidified. Finally the sinking stopped and a grating rock on rock sound could be heard. There was a total of one hundred and twenty residents of Ryelef who died that day, their names added to a memorial honouring those who died from Fiske. Another memorial was erected honouring the noble warriors who fell to the amphibian enemies.

The election of the next mayor of Ryelef came and went, Joe of the Foresters running with Cedric's endorsement against Yutle, a goblin linked to the thieves guild and pawnshop association, Joe won by a landslide and continued Cedrics programs, the only people who complained were the wealthy who didn't like this social governance thing as it was called.

Chapter 22: Wandering forward.

Grimrose and Markus were asked to stay on in their positions but both insisted that it would be a bad idea, and new fresh minds needed the chance to shine. Grimrose was replaced by Yovalna from the Inn, which was one of the buildings destroyed by the amphibious armies invasion. Markus was replaced by one of the top students to have graduated from Lizard Teat's after the battle. Fiona's apprentice, a young man from the farms took her job when she left. Cedric and Jem got married and later that day Grimrose and Markus were married. The next day Cedric came over to Fiona "Dawn's due back tomorrow and I found a boat that can take us to the other side of Cerren Berra. I'd like you to meet the captain and see what you think of him. His name is Captain Domon Farrell and his ship is the Molly. Negotiate a decent price and I'll cover it. I've already told Markus and his husband to get ready. I'd like to leave by the morning of the day after tomorrow,"

"Good. Are we having a party for Dawn's return?"

"I assumed so. I reserved The Mouth's Inn for tomorrow," said Cedric.

"The whole Inn? That's one heck of a chunk of change!" Fiona said.

"The owner owed me a favour. She had made a deal with Fiske to skip out on paying taxes for a few years. Fiske kept track of the amount owed and when it was greater than the value of the building he threatened to shut them down if they didn't let him use their building as his own social experiment, keeping out anyone not native to the city or under a certain income. I erased the debt with my own pay and let them pay what they owed for this year with the agreement that they would pay what they owed on time from now on," Cedric said with a prideful smirk.

"What happened to the nasty bastard that I met over a year ago who only cared about the mission?" She said with a grin.

"St. Boric visited me in a dream a couple of nights ago and told me that if I can get Dawn to Neul and she does her thing that I can live a normal life from now on, dying in my sleep with Jem. I have something to look forward to," he said.

Fiona visited Captain Farrell and talked to him for a few hours. He was desperate for business and had just replaced the first mate for his ship. The last one was his own brother and the captain was irritated that he had to get rid of him in their home port on the isle of Ireie. The man had apparently gone insane from drinking home made whiskey from a jar and fallen in love with the Captains ship, the Molly, which was named for their mother. The first mate had attempted to rob the Captain and give all the money to the ship, who in the first mates eyes betrayed him to the Captain. The man was locked in an asylum for the rest of his natural days and had been spending the days singing about whiskey in a jar. Fiona and the Captain agreed on a fee of Fifteen thousand gold for five individuals to travel from the port of Ryelef to the port town of Yerk, which was the only port on that side of the continent capable of handling a deep water ship like the Molly. The price would cover their room and food on the ship and they would not be asked to perform any work. The captain would allow them to bring on board any weapons, armour, and items that could be carried in a single trip, cargo would require an additional fee and if there were any items that needed to be loaded without the notice of the port authority there would be an additional charge. The journey would go through the Dragon's revenge and pass through pirate infested waters, but they shouldn't be bad since The Captains of Blood were still recovering from the defeat of Captain Stewart by the world famous Captain Erroyl. Also they would be passing through the area during the pirates holiday season and very few would want to miss opening their presents that had been sitting under the holiday tree. Captain Farrell asked for the races and occupations of who all would be coming and if anyone would want to share quarters, he wasn't bothered by the notion of a half elf and half orc sharing a room but told Fiona if they started fighting or flinging spells she'd be held responsible. Captain Farrell rolled his eyes when Fiona said Dawn was a druid before asking what kind of wildlife she was bringing with. Fiona said that she wasn't aware of any special animals currently in her life to which the captain had no reply but could be heard to mutter under his breath something about _bloody druids and their bloody badgers._

"Well, that sounds like all we need to arrange Miss McCoul. The Molly will leave as soon as your people are loaded the day after tomorrow, if you can get everyone aboard the night before I'll knock off ten percent and sail as soon as its safe," Captain Farrell said as he stood and walked to the door of the bar.

"We'll try to take you up on that although everyone might be a bit drunk at that point, I hope that won't be a problem," replied Fiona.

"Problem? Nay, most of the crew will be drunk and threatening to shave each others bellies with rusty razors. Bloody daft sailors think I can't hear their fool voices when they sing drunkenly and off key they do," the captain said as he walked out the door and onto the pier.

Dawn did arrive in the early hours of the next morning having received a message about the ship. She had no animals with her but hoped one day to meet a badger as great as Prince. The welcome back party started at noon and lasted until after midnight, there was a feast of roasted venison, cram berries which were named from cramming them into a steel cup until they took on the shape of the pattern that had been carved on the inside of the cup. Someone had made a great pot of beet stew and there was three different kinds of pie. Dawn, Fiona, and Markus got drunk on the honey wine that Joe made and brought seven barrels of while Bud, Cedric, and Grimrose were trying to drink each other under the table with twenty year old bottles of rye whiskey that cost two hundred gold pieces each. Grimrose was the first to puke his guts out and Cedric passed out shortly after that, leaving Bud the clear winner. Joe and some of the druids helped carry the party to the ship and got them on board with no fuss.

Chapter 23: candy for a sea shanty.

In the morning Dawn woke and wandered out onto deck, seeing Cedric standing next to the ships rail. He drank a cup of what smelled like goat bean juice. She walked up to him and looked at what he was looking at, the port of Ryelef fading in the distance.

"OH SHIT! WE HAVE TO GO BACK!" she shouted at him.

"And why is that my naked great great grand daughter?" Cedric asked with a grin.

Dawn looked down and only then realized that she had taken her clothes off during the night. She had no problem with nudity, anyone who did and lived with druids got over their issues pretty quick.  
"The Stone! It's sitting in a safe in Ryelef!" she said.

"Really? So there's no way your dear old great great grandpa had the smarts to hall that safe out of his office in the tavern and stick it in the ship? Are you sure my little honey badger who's right now inspiring many of these lonely boys and girls of the sailing industry to have very sweet dreams about you tonight?" asked Cedric, who was doing his best to embarrass the young woman and failing.

"Oh, oh gods, thank you. Um, I'm going to go back to bed now," Dawn said. Several of the sailors began loudly volunteering to escort her to bed but she shouted loud enough for everyone on the ship to hear "NO THANK YOU!" and headed to her cabin. One look from Cedric convinced them to go back to their duties. Later that day Dawn and the rest of the party dragged themselves out of bed and played various games with each other and sailors who were not on duty. They learned quickly that the sailors were excellent gamblers and that to gamble anything was the same as just giving their money away. The ship made it to the mouth of the dragons revenge by nightfall and dropped anchor, not wanting to risk the narrow channel by starlight. The night passed uneventfully and they weighed anchor before the sun was fully up the next morning.

The Molly made it through the channel slowly and cautiously, Dawn and Fiona noticing the spot they had slept at along the channel and pointing it out to the rest of the group. They reached open water on the other side of the revenge in a day and a half, fast enough to give the captain an extra lock of white hairs. They sailed open waters for another three days before seeing another ship, which signalled them using mirrors. It became customary for ships to signal one another with mirrors to reduce the number of attacks. The whole crew would know who was signalling and if they were attacked it was hoped that at least one sailor would be able to report the name used by the attacker. The ship was asking for their ships name and captain, and signalled back that they were the Sea Dancer Two, the replacement for Captain Erroyl's famous ship. An elf woman in the crows nest with a telescope confirmed that it was Captain Erroyl's ship and could be seen waving to her counterpart across the waves. When Dawn and Fiona heard the name Captain Erroyl they both asked if the signaller could relay that they had been passengers on the Sea Dancer that he had picked up in Chiltian. There was a burst of signalling back and forth between the two ships and Captain Erroyl asked if he could bring his ship alongside. Captain Farrell was glad for the opportunity to meet the world famous Captain Erroyl and approved. Both ships sailed towards one another until only a small gap remained which a plank was placed across.

Captain Erroyl and some of his crew came over and met with Captain Farrell and his people, Erroyl hugged Dawn and Fiona, asking them what happened after he last saw them. They filled him in on everything and he said he knew things would turn out well. After a few minutes Captain Erroyl shouted for his lazy no account first mate to get over here and who should come running across the plank but Gerald, who they were sure had drowned well over a year ago. Tears of joy streamed from Cedric, Dawn and Fiona, and Captain Erroyl asked Captain Farrell if he might have room for this one last passenger who had unresolved obligations with Captain Farrell's passengers and as The Sea Dancer would not be needing his services any longer, Books was getting tired of sharing the title of first mate with the mopy dwarf. The Sea Dancer Two departed and The Molly started sailing for Yerk.

Gerald had almost drowned but was saved by Captain Erroyl who had seen the man go under and jumped in while duelling against Captain Stewart again. Captain Stewart had thought it was a feign and jumped after Erroyl, only to get caught on his own anchor. Erroyl hauled Gerald out of the water and had the ships surgeon revive him. Without the commanding presence of Captain Stewart his men all surrendered to the men of the Sea Dancer and were stripped of weapons and tied up. Captain Stewart was hauled off of his anchor and healed before being placed in chains. The Sea Dancer began taking on water during their voyage to the capital of maritime justice in the world, Boulogne Sur Mer in Neustrasia and had to be scuttled in deep water two days after reaching port.

Captain Stewart was placed in the guards custody, tried and convicted by a court the seas; One Admiral presided over the trial, one sailor prosecuted and one defended the captain, there was a jury of thirteen Captains. Stewart was hung for his crimes facing away from the seas and buried in an unmarked grave in the deserts of Jinkai, a landlocked nation where his body would never touch the briny depths again. As gratitude for saving his life Gerald had volunteered to work for Captain Erroyl for the rest of his days but Erroyl told him he was meant for completing his mission, and that sooner or later the girl with the pet rock would pass Gerald again, and Captain Erroyl would insist that Gerald went with her even if Gerald had to be tied to her back. Gerald figured out part of the conspiracy against the Royalty, he said it was a group of them squid heads trying to take over the world and revive their sleeping god, Cratholu, the father of the krakens. Cedric told Gerald all about there adventure with a squid head, amusing and astonishing Gerald.

Chapter 24: Dusk

There was another fourteen days of sailing before they reached Yerk. After they disembarked Gerald talked privately to Cedric regarding Fiona, Grimrose, and Markus. Cedric assured him that Dawn insisted that they come and they did really care about the girl, which was enough for him and as it turned out, enough for Gerald. They all purchased horses and supplies including a giant rounded tent called a yurt that Gerald insisted on. He had also insisted on a covered wagon with plate mail panels for Dawn to ride in. She agreed to a covered wagon but thought the plate mail was silly and she refused to be stuck in the wagon all day. He considered a throne like chair he saw in a furniture shop for Dawn but after seeing it she said that he "would have to stay behind with the ugly thing," They rode off to the north-west, following the historic founders trail. As they rode they felt unseen eyes staring at them, Grimrose said it was the eyes of all who had died in the fall of Neul but he tended to be more superstitious than anyone else in the group, a quality that Markus found adorable.

Each night Gerald insisted on setting up the yurt which took at least an hour and a half even with everyone helping. They all slept in the yurt and shared their evening meal. On the third night Grimrose couldn't sleep, and somewhere around midnight began screaming as a flaming arrow lodged into the side of the tent. The fire was put out with magic and Dawn cast a spell to pull a rain cloud down, extinguishing any more potential fires. The group went outside and there was a platoon of fifty dark elves all cursing their now extinguished arrows. Their leader shouted "Greetings from the Masters of The Coming World," before running at them, sword high over head. Dawn responded clearing her sinuses and power spitting the contents at him, the wad of saliva and mucus went straight down his throat, causing him to choke, stumble, and then be trampled by his own troops. The battle was long and not without casualties. Fiona lost three fingers from one hand and her left leg below the knee. Grimrose lost his heart when his magic could not keep a sword from going into the Markus' skull and out through his nose. The half Orc was filled with a rage that blossomed into a storm of fireballs exploding out of the bodies of thirty of the dark elves, with another eight catching fire in the explosions which were not quenched by Dawn's monsoon. The rest of the elves were still alive died shortly afterwards. Markus was buried there with Dawn pulling the earth open for his grave and making a statue that looked a lot like the fallen magic user pop out of the ground near his grave. After a week of riding they reached the ruins of Neul Chianogos, Gerald setting up the damaged yurt at the exact dead centre of the city, where the palace had once stood. The Sun had already set by the time the yurt was in place.

"Okay, I am in the city limits. We got the stone with us. Now what?" Dawn asked.

"Now we wait," replied Gerald who was staring off into the horizon.

"Wait for what?" Asked Fiona.

"The future Royals will start arriving to be tested any time now. We just have to wait for them. any time now," said Gerald.

Several hours passed and Cedric, Dawn, Fiona, and Grimrose all looked at each other and wondered if the old Dwarf had lost it. Fiona went over to Gerald who was staring at the goat hide door. "Is there a way to signal the future royals?" she said.

"Not that I'm aware of. Maybe if we try tapping the stone on the street of Neul. Try that, Dawn," the dwarf said to her excitedly. Dawn took out the stone and pulled back one of the rugs on the floor of the yurt before she tapped the stone gently on the ground with barely any sound created.

"Try again," the Dwarf said.

Dawn tapped the stone on the ground again, this time with more strength.

"Try again, this time harder," Gerald said.

Dawn began hitting it on the ground with the force that she used to crack walnuts in the fall, The stone seemed to absorb sounds that should be emitted.

"Oh Dawn, you're stronger than that, it's a pretty tough stone, you can do harder," Gerald said.

Dawn looked at him in annoyance before grabbing the stone with both hands, raising it above her head and slamming it into the ground as hard as she could. A chuck of the ground flew from the spot pegging Grimrose in the leg but the stone was undamaged and made very little noise. Suddenly they heard a loud pop and someone started knocking on the goatskin door of the yurt while saying "Hello?"

"I'll bet that's the new king now!" said Gerald. He opened the door and a very tall elderly man with a greyish white beard long enough to trip over entered. He looked around for a moment and then looked directly to Dawn.

"You are the Steward of the Royal Family and the Stone Bearer. Let me introduce myself. I am Lord Ravenbeak. Fifteenth grand high muckity muck of the squawking circle, inner cloister of the Raven Flock. I must assume that since you have finally deemed this city worthy of your presence you are at least partially knowledgeable about your duties. I will remind you that as Steward you are also responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the Royals Capitol when they are not available. I must insist that you rebuild this city to its former glory immediately," he said.

"Excuse us, bird brain, but this young woman has been through hell and back to get here, and it's going to take a while to rebuild this city. Even with a full crew of dwarves, gnomes, and labourers it will be at least a few years till this is a city again," said Cedric. Lord Ravenbeak just glared at him.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid man! Use Magic!" he shouted at Cedric.

Just then another pop was heard just outside the yurt. An elderly woman in an odd hat and gown strolled into the tent and looked to Ravenbeak.

"Lord Ravenbeak, that is no way to talk to them. They are not stupid, they are just not skilled in our arts. This is why you haven't advanced from the level of grand high muckity muck after sixty five years, you need to show empathy," she said. She turned and looked to Dawn before continuing. "Hello dear, I am Lady Raventweet, seventh level grand high pooh bah of the squawking circle, inner cloister of the Raven Flock and I must apologize for my colleges behaviour. If you wish the Raven Flock will gladly offer its skills in restoration to bring this city to its former glory, although we no longer practice Necromancy, not after that whole incident involving Lord Ravenbourne. Would you like us to restore the city?" she asked.

Dawn considered what was said and replied with "is it going to cost anything?".

"Oh, certainly. You won't get a lick of experience in the arts of lifting heavy objects, hammering things, sawing things or any of those other constructiony things," was the reply.

"But no gold, no swearing loyalty, no giving you my eternal soul or anything like that?" asked Dawn

"Oh heavens to Betsy, why would we want any of that nonsense?" the wizard asked.

"I just thought it would be smart to check. Okay, I would love it if the Raven Flock would restore the city of Neul Chianogos to its former glory, as soon as it's reasonably possible," She said, hoping that this wouldn't bite her in the ass.

"We will need you to remove this ugly tent thing and stand outside city limits, about at least twenty miles from here please," she said.

"That's a full days ride!" said Gerald.

Lord Ravenbeak looked at him with contempt and snapped his fingers. The party and their gear including the horses, the yurt, and the two wizards were suddenly twenty miles north of where they were.

"Now that that is taken care of the rest of the flock shall start arriving. We should be here fully by morning. Get a good nights sleep, you may wish to see the show in the morning," she said before her and Lord Ravenbeak disappeared.

They did go to sleep after dinner but sleep was difficult to maintain. Throughout the night popping noises could be heard from the south of them as more wizards arrived many of which were giggling excitedly or poking their heads into the yurt to catch a glimpse of Dawn. By morning the city had a ring of wizards surrounding it, each one standing arms length from a wizard to their left and to their right. Chanting could be heard from the wizards but nothing that could be understood by anyone in the group. Finally they fell silent and the ground began rumbling.

A bright light was glowing from the centre of Neul Chianogos while chucks of rock and dirt began flying from the centre. Other chunks of dirt lifted off from where they were, no matter how far away they were, and flew to Neul. Souvenirs people had taken years before flew from their homes on the other side of the planet to head back to their sweet home Chianogos. The entire circle of the city twenty miles in radius became a seething mass of bits flying here and there for the next four days. Afterwards it slowed down considerably and the last piece arrived six days after the chant had stopped. The city was a marvel to the eyes, streets made of cobblestone with buildings done in brick, stone and wood. Buildings reaching up more than five floors surrounded the capitol building. There were green areas that trees were sprouting up in-trees that hadn't been there a week ago were now a couple of feet tall already. Marble fountains flowed fourth and courtyards of statues stood for all who wished to see. It was once again the grandest city of the land but it was still a ghost, it needed to live again. It needed people to live in it again, more than just the party.

The Lady Raventweet sensed what Dawn was feeling. "Don't worry my dear. You won't need to wait too long before the city lives again. Follow your senses and the word will spread that the city has been restored. Many will feel an inner calling to come and be tested. Be ready," she said. The Raven Flock then thanked Dawn for letting them do their thing and then disappeared in one great pop.

Dawn walked into the cities palace and into a chamber that Gerald said was the royal council. At the centre was a podium with a pedestal.

"Oh My Gods, I remember that thing!" said Gerald at the sight of the pedestal. He looked to Dawn and motioned for her to come over to it. "It's the Stewards pedestal. When you're not using the stone its supposed to sit there. It's rumoured to call those who need to be tested. Go ahead and sit it down. I can't believe I forgot!" He said.

Dawn looked at the pedestal and then to the stone and back to the pedestal. The pedestal had a niche in it that was the right size and shape for the stone, so Dawn placed it in that spot. Suddenly the stone started to glow with an inner fire, the pedestal began to glow, the room, the building and the city were all glowing. Dawn no longer saw through her eyes alone, she felt the heartbeat of everyone in the room, and saw through their eyes. She breathed deeply and felt a sharp jerking sensation and then just for a moment saw through the eyes of every man, woman, and child on the continent of Cerren Berra. She breathed deeply again and felt another sharp jerk, she heard the voices of all humanoids on the planet. She heard the sounds of the war drums that an orc was playing in Truk, she felt the claws of a lizard man as he climbed a tree, she tasted the flesh as the mouth of a hungry giant clamped down on the rotting carcass of a human it had found. Another deep breath and she was in the heads of all biological life, with another breath all botanical life was within the collective Dawn now experienced the world through. Rocks, soil, water, sky and fire were added to the mix. Dawn wondered if she would be lost to the universe but had the realization that if all that she was was no more she would still be greater for what she now experienced, in that shining moment she knew all there was to know, all that there was to be and all that had been, and as quickly as this enlightenment came there was darkness. Dawn awoke a day later with a headache. She knew on some level at that point what she had held within her but to try and remember it was not something she could do. She learned that all that she had seen had been in her mind alone, the rest of the party saw her place the stone on its pedestal, breath several times and then collapse, Cedric had picked her up and tucked her in bed, Fiona and Gerald had taken turns nursing her.

When Dawn was finally able to stand and walk she wandered around asking the group to meet her in the council chamber in a few minutes. Cedric and Fiona sat in the royal library by a fireplace each reading a book. Grimrose was in a watchtower scanning the horizon while Gerald had, for unknown reasons dressed up as a maid before starting to clean the council chambers. When they finally all reached the chamber everyone looked at Gerald with mild amusement, Cedric asking if the old dwarf had gone off his rocker. Dawn looked to her family.

"I don't know what happened but I'm pretty sure that Lady Raventweet was right, the world now knows and those who need to come, will" said Dawn looking to everyone. A broom that Gerald had brought with and had been using for sweeping was leaning in a corner suddenly fell over without anyone touching it or a single breeze blowing. A few minutes after she said that clouds of dust could be seen on the horizon which had been clear earlier. In the distance hundreds of riders approached from all directions, all converging on Neul.

"Here comes company" said Dawn.

The end of the first book of Mouvei.


End file.
